Asia Pacific Destinations Welcomed Over Half a Billion Visitor Arrivals in 2013

According to PATA’s Annual Tourism Monitor 2014 Early Edition, destinations in Asia Pacific collectively welcomed close to 520 million international visitor arrivals (IVAs) in calendar year 2013.

Covering 42 destinations across 11 sub-regions of the Asia Pacific region, this report gives a five-year perspective on travel flows into and within this dynamic and vigorous part of the world.

Key findings from the report show that:

- Between 2009 and 2013 the growth in IVAs into Asia Pacific grew by an average of 6.3% per annum, moderating in 2013 to 5.3% year-on-year.

- Destinations in Asia captured just fewer than three-quarters of the total foreign inbound volume in 2013 (74%), with the Americas taking up around 22% and the Pacific sub-region the remaining 4%.

- Within Asia, Northeast Asia captured some 243 million IVAs in 2013 followed by Southeast Asia (98 million), West Asia (38 million) and South Asia (9.9 million)

- The top three Asia Pacific destinations by volume of arrivals in 2013 were:

1. China 129.077 million
2. The USA 69.746 million
3. Hong Kong SAR 54.299 million

While by annual growth (percent), the top three Asia Pacific destinations were:

1. Myanmar +51.7%
2. Niue +39.6%
3. Sri Lanka +26.7%

Among the principal source markets, Hong Kong SAR, China and the USA were the largest contributors in terms of the absolute number of visitor arrivals, while China, the Russian Federation and Vietnam contributed the greatest annual increase in volume between 2012 and 2013.

Martin J. Craigs, CEO of PATA, said, “This report provides a first look at the detailed movement of foreign arrivals into Asia Pacific destinations during 2013 and when combined with the recently released PATA forecasts for the period 2014-2018 gives all of us in the travel and tourism industry a solid quantifiable measure of what just eventuated during the year, and what the likely projections will be for the coming five-year period.”