South Asia propels Asia-pacific tourism growth

South Asia led the Asia/Pacific tourist arrivals in November.
South Asia was the star growth performer, followed by Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia and the Pacific, all of which saw tourism demand improve albeit at different rates of growth, according to Pacific Asia Travel Association, for the first eleven months of the year.
Travel demand to South Asia was particularly strong with growth of 15 per cent for the month of October — year-on-year — however the momentum stalled a little in November when the aggregate gain fell to nine per cent. With the exception of India, all reporting destinations within this sub-region showed outstanding results with double-digit growth during the month of November.
A number of destinations in the region set new records for monthly foreign visitor volumes including the Maldives (22 per cent) and Nepal (17 per cent) in October and Sri Lanka (26 per cent) increment in November, according to the preliminary results by the PATA that showed a collective increase of six per cent year-on-year for international arrivals into Asia/Pacific destinations during each of the months of October and November 2011.
The momentum is expected to continue for the rest of the year and paves the way for an expected full-year arrivals gain of five per cent to six per cent in 2011, above the global growth figure of four per cent, it said.
The overall international visitor arrivals count to the wider Asia Pacific region — which includes North America — is expected to reach around 430 million for 2011.
Southeast Asia recorded a relatively slower close on the year with growth of seven per cent and three per cent in October and November 2011 respectively. A number of factors were responsible for this result, most particularly the flooding that occurred across many destinations.
Growth in international arrivals into Northeast Asia saw gains of five per cent in October and eight per cent in November — the strongest monthly growth recorded during the first eleven months of 2011.
The Pacific posted a three per cent increase during October 2011 as the lingering impact of the Rugby World Cup helped drive foreign arrivals to New Zealand, which registered close on a 17 per cent increase during that month. The Pacific had a sluggish year with expected year-on-year growth in arrivals expected to be largely flat for calendar year 2011.