This
is the third consecutive year in which foreign arrivals growth has
remained positive for the region.
Of
the 40 separate destinations covered, only five reported contractions
for the year. Most of those were relatively marginal for the region
as a whole. The only exception was China, which, with a contraction
in growth of 2.2%, is estimated to have lost around three million
international arrivals (foreign and compatriot) from its 2011 total
international inbound count.
The
picture is quite different for foreign arrivals to China however
(i.e. excluding compatriot arrivals). The year 2012 saw an increase
of 1.6% in that inbound volume, year-on-year.
Southeast
Asia was the strongest performer in 2012 in annual percentage growth
terms, with a gain of 9.9% for the year. This equated to an increase
of more than eight million additional arrivals over the previous year
and pushed the ASEAN aggregate international inbound count to almost
89 million.
Within
this sub-region, Myanmar had a staggering increase of almost 52% in
arrivals, while Cambodia and Lao PDR reported gains of 24% and 22%
respectively. All three destinations created new records with Myanmar
breaking the million arrivals mark (in total) for the first time.
Cambodia and Lao PDR both also broke the three million mark. They
were not alone either as every destination within the ASEAN region
set new highs in terms of international arrivals.
After
several years of strong double-digit growth rates, South Asia is now
settling back somewhat, but still returning strong gains; 2012 for
example saw growth of 6.6% and an increase of well over
half-a-million additional international arrivals. Sri Lanka, with
growth of almost 18% saw its foreign arrivals count pass the one
million mark, while the Maldives fell just short of it. India remains
the titan within South Asia however, with more than 6.6 million
arrivals and a year-on-year gain of close to 340,000 additional
foreign arrivals, some 59% of the total additional increase in the
arrivals volume to the sub-region.
Even
with the contraction in total international arrivals into China,
Northeast Asia still maintained a growth rate of almost 4% for the
year. It dominated the visitor increase count by receiving close to
8.5 million additional international arrivals year-on-year.
Japan
turned in the strongest percentage growth with a gain of 35% for the
year, a performance that saw the destination recoup the losses in
visitor arrivals following the tsunami of 2011 and move once again
into record arrivals territory. Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong SAR and
Korea (ROK) also added to the sub-regional performance with growth
increases of 20%, 16% and 14% respectively.
After
a somewhat mediocre performance in 2011 (+0.3% growth), the Pacific
bounced back strongly in 2012 to post a collective gain across
eighteen destinations of 6%. This in turn equated to an increase of
better than 1.1 million additional international arrivals to the
sub-region, which now collectively boasts an international inbound
volume tantalisingly close to 20 million.
The
Northern Marianas (+17.4%), Vanuatu (15.1%) and Guam (+12.8%)
reported the strongest percentage gains, while Hawaii, Australia and
Guam posted the greatest gains in additional arrivals for the year.
Across
the Asia/Pacific region, preliminary figures suggest that the top
five destinations, by growth in international visitor arrivals, were:
Myanmar, Japan, Cambodia, Lao PDR and Chinese Taipei; each had a
year-on-year increase of 20% or better.
In
volume terms, there were six particularly significant outcomes with
Hong Kong SAR, Thailand, Japan, Singapore, Korea (ROK) and Chinese
Taipei each securing in excess of one million additional arrivals in
2012; the SAR of Hong Kong saw 6.7 million additional international
arrivals.
Martin
J Craigs, CEO of PATA, said: “Asia and the Pacific continues to add
substantially to the global international arrivals count. We expect
that to continue for some time yet. The players shift and change of
course and we can expect some movement in terms of generating and
receiving markets. But across the region we expect substantial gains
in both the volume and the value of these movements for some time
yet.”
The
PATA CEO added: “How we measure and determine the impacts of this
growth in traffic is becoming more important, however. That is why
PATA is working to promote the concept of the Complete Visitor
Economy throughout its membership and across the wider industry.”
