Asia Pacific Visitor Arrivals in 2009

Preliminary figures from PATA indicate that the numbers of international visitors to the Asia Pacific region fell by an estimated 3% year-on-year for calendar year 2009, a much improved result considering the fact that the rate of decline was 6% for the first half of the year.

The stronger-than-expected pick up in travel demand in the second half of the year saw visitor arrivals to the region grow by 1% year-on-year in the July-December period.

Southeast Asia emerged as the only sub-region in Asia Pacific to record a full-year gain in international arrivals during 2009. Visitor numbers rose 1% year-on-year, supported by Myanmar (+26%), Malaysia (+7%), Indonesia (+1%) and Cambodia (+2%). Thailand, Singapore, and Vietnam, on the other hand, recorded full-year declines of 3%, 4% and 10% respectively.

Arrivals to Northeast Asia fell by 2% in 2009, the second straight year of decline for the sub-region after a similar 2% fall in 2008. The full-year arrivals numbers were down for Japan (- 19%), Macau SAR (- 5%) and China (- 3%) while Chinese Taipei (+14%) and Korea (ROK) (+13%) posted increased visitor numbers. Hong Kong SAR recorded a marginal 0.3% increase in arrivals for the year.

South Asia recorded a 3% decline in visitor arrivals in 2009, driven by a similar3% fall in arrivals to India. While growth in arrivals to India remained sluggish in the second half of the year, arrivals rebounded strongly for Sri Lanka and Nepal during the period resulting in full-year gains to those destinations of 2% and 1% respectively.

Visitor arrivals to the Pacific declined by 2% in 2009 mainly on sharp falls in visitor numbers to Guam (- 8%) and Hawaii (- 4%). Arrivals to Australia and New Zealand were flat.

The Americas recorded the largest decline in arrivals among the sub-regions with an estimated 6% fall for the full year. The numbers of international visitor arrivals to Canada, the USA and Mexico were down for the year while Chile recorded a 1% increase.

Kris Lim, Director of PATA’s Strategic Intelligence Centre (SIC), said, “We ended the year on a positive note with international visitor arrivals to Asia Pacific shores growing by 4% year-on-year in December. This is by far the largest monthly growth in 2009. It has been an extremely challenging year but not the worst on record in growth terms ... Arrivals fell even more sharply in 2003, by 7%, as the SARS crisis impacted severely on international travel. The recovery in 2010 is, however, unlikely to follow the V-shaped rebound of 2004. We are better placed now than six months ago as the economic climate continues to improve. The IMF is now expecting stronger growth of 3.9% for the world’s economy this year, with ‘developing Asia’ leading the way at 8.4%.”

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