Asia Pacific tourism and travel spend set for five-year surge
Bangkok : The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) has released its forecasts for visitor numbers and for tourism expenditure for the period 2013-2017, and anticipates a strong surge in regional travel and tourism, with Northeast Asia a key driver.
Snapshots from the visitor numbers forecasts show that:
• Visitor arrivals to the Asia Pacific region will continue to grow at an average annual rate of +4.1% over the period 2013-2017 and reach 581 million by 2017
• Northeast Asia will maintain a dominant position in the inbound market of Asia Pacific, and its market share will reach 53.52% by 2017
• China will continue to be the top inbound destination in Asia Pacific, peaking at 147.4 million visitors in 2017
• Hong Kong SAR will surpass the USA to be the second largest inbound destination in Asia Pacific in 2015
• Visitor arrivals to Asia Pacific from China will exceed 100 million by 2015
• Cambodia, the Maldives, Chinese Taipei, Bhutan and Mongolia are the top five fastest growing destinations in terms of visitor arrivals over the period 2013-2017.
For the first time, PATA’s Asia Pacific Visitor Forecasts 2013-2017 have been produced in collaboration with The Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s School of Hotel and Tourism Management. The annual and quarterly forecasts cover a five-year horizon (up from three).
In related news, PATA has also released Asia Pacific visitor expenditure forecasts for 2013-2017. A strong upswing is expected from Northeast Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia in the four-year period.
Northeast Asia is expected to have the most significant rise from US$175.81 billion in 2013 to US$311.34 billion in 2017 (+77%). Visitor expenditure for South Asia and Southeast Asia are forecast to increase 65% and 39% respectively.- PATA
