News

APAC air arrivals up 5%

International visitor arrivals into Asia and the Pacific for the first quarter saw a 5% increase, according to figures by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA).

International arrivals to South Asia grew by 10% in March and 13% in Q1. Leading destinations in the Indian-subcontinent, including India, the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka, reported double-figure growth for the quarter.

Southeast Asia had a strong quarter, with a 10% increase in arrivals in March. Destinations including Myanmar (+30%), Cambodia (+18%) and Thailand (+14%) all reported positive results.

On the other hand, Northeast Asia saw slower growth of 3% in Q1, with figures for March recording a 1% growth in arrivals. The Japan earthquake and tsunami in Japan had a large impact on this, with inbound and outbound travel flows very low. Neighbouring destinations including China, Hong Kong, Macau and Korea recorded subsequent declines in Japanese visitors for the quarter.

Despite a weak result in March (-3%), international arrivals to the Pacific grew by 3% during Q1. Increases in arrivals to the leading destinations of Australia and New Zealand were flat and negative, respectively. However, positive growth was recorded by Kiribati, Palau, Hawaii and New Caledonia.

Overall growth was supported by the key origin markets of China, Korea and India, as well as the strong intra-regional flows in the Southeast Asia sub-region. Arrivals from Europe grew by 6% for Q1, while other leading European origin markets were mixed, with the Russian Federation (+25%), France (+9%), the UK (-5%) and Germany (-1%). Overall arrivals from the Americas grew by 7%, with a 5% increase in US arrivals.

“After recovering strongly from recession-hit 2008/09, the travel and tourism industry in APAC has once again been confronted with many challenges in the first quarter of the year,” said Bill Calderwood, interim chief executive, PATA. “It is now over two months since the earthquake and tsunami hit the coast of Tohoku in Japan and the situation appears to be slowly returning to normal.”

Jenni Baker, London