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The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), in the December edition of its Issues & Trends newsletter, is forecasting more than
300 million international visitor arrivals (IVAs) to Asia Pacific in 2004, about 10% more than the previous record of 274.8 million in
2002.
PATA Managing Director-Strategic Intelligence Centre (SIC) Mr John Koldowski said: "If we can get through December with no
new external shocks to travel and tourism, I am confident that we will break 300 million this year."
Mr Koldowski said the main drivers for the record-breaking growth were pent-up demand from last year, competitive fares by
low-cost carriers, the further easing of outbound regulations by China (PRC), the strong Euro, and robust economic
performances in Asia Pacific source markets.
The year 2003 was one of the worst ever for travel and tourism in Asia Pacific, largely due to four external shocks -
SARS, terrorism, global economic doldrums and conflict in Iraq.
"With all the pent-up demand carried over from 2003, we were expecting a bounce-back year," said Mr Koldowski. "However, this
is much more than a bounce back - this is aggressive, strong growth."
He added: "By the year's end, we will probably see record arrivals for South Asia, Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia and the
Pacific. This is real growth, not artificial gains due to a comparatively poor 2003."
The December edition of Issues & Trends compares year-on-year statistics back to the year 2000 and shows stunning results.
Mr Koldowski said: "We are seeing year-to-date growth rates of 20, 30, and 40% in some cases, and that is on large volumes as
well."
For example, Macau SAR has seen a 45% gain in IVAs in the first nine months of 2004, lifting its actual count from 8.4 million for
the same period in 2003 to almost 12.2 million this year.
Mainland China continues its travel revolution. In the January-September period, IVAs soared to almost 80 million compared to
66 million for the same period in 2003.
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