KATHMANDU: Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) has released the international visitor arrivals data for the first quarter of 2010 today. Travel demand in Asia
Pacific picked up strongly in the first quarter of the
year, registering a 10 per cent increase from the same quarter in 2009.
International visitor arrivals to South Asia grew by 17 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter. All the destinations in the sub-region rebounded strongly from the relatively poor first quarter of 2009, which, in the cases of India and Sri Lanka, were severely impacted by the lingering effects of the Mumbai attacks and the civil war, respectively.
Arrivals growth was also very strong for Nepal (30 per cent), the Maldives (21 per cent ) and Bhutan (57 per cent) during the first three months of this year.
The destinations of Southeast Asia also reported strong growth with a collective gain of 16 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter. This was boosted by a double-digit growth in international arrivals to Cambodia (10 per cent), Indonesia (15 per cent), Myanmar (39 per cent), Singapore (20 per cent), Thailand (28 per cent) and Vietnam (36 per cent).
Thailand recorded a 28 per cent gain in arrivals from January to March. However, it is expected that this early recovery will be severely impacted by the tensions and unrest in April and May, especially in Bangkok and its immediate surroundings.
Within Northeast Asia, China (PRC) reported a 4 per cent increase in international arrivals in the first quarter of 2010 with the sub-region as a whole growing by 8 per cent year-on-year for the period.
This strong sub-regional performance was also supported by the SARs of Hong Kong (17 per cent) and Macau (12 per cent), Chinese Taipei (28 per cent) and Japan (29 per cent). The turnaround for Japan was particularly solid given that it came from a 19 per cent slump in calendar year 2009. Korea (ROK), on the other hand, recorded a 1 per cent decline in arrivals.
