Pacific Asia Travel Association forecasted that Asia is predicted to spearhead a return to visitor growth across Asia Pacific in 2021.
Considering the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the volume of arrivals under a most likely scenario is now expected to return to over 610 million in 2021, barring any other unforeseen interventions. This initial recovery is expected to see growth of around three percent above 2019 levels. This will herald a return to the initial forecast levels shortly thereafter.
Asia is expected to rebound with the fastest growth rates relative to 2019 and the growth in international visitor arrivals will vary by the source regions.
The Americas, which is expected to show the lowest contraction in its rate of growth in 2020, is forecast to continue with much weaker growth rates over the years to 2024.
Asia is expected to generate significantly improved arrival numbers during the recovery phase in 2021. It will rebound from a loss of almost 104 million visitors between 2019 and 2020 to growth of 5.6% in 2021 relative to 2019, delivering more than 18 million more arrivals over that period.
In 2021 arrivals into the Americas are expected to be relatively strong with a net increase of 2.9 million visitors relative to the volume generated in 2019.
This is expected to be driven largely by intra-regional flows (Americas-to-Americas) which, after a decline of 4.3 million arrivals between 2019 and 2020, are expected to recover rapidly and generate more than 2.5 million arrivals into the Americas relative to 2019.
Tags: PATA
