THE SURGE CONTINUES

The surge of international visitor arrivals into Asia and the Pacific is continuing, with arrivals growing by 6% in June 2013 — that\’s latest month for which comprehensive pan-regional results are available. According to the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), the figures for June are among the strongest year-on-year growth performances so far in 2013. Southeast Asia set the pace once again with a solid double-digit gain, but all sub-regions reported good percentage growth performances for the month. Increasing numbers of mainland Chinese visitors played a major role in this exceptional performance in many destinations across the region. However, international arrivals into China continued to decline, the fourth monthly contraction so far this year.
Martin J. Craigs, CEO of PATA, said: \”It is encouraging to see that all the tourism growth forecasts for the Asia Pacific region from not only PATA but also from the UNWTO and the likes of the Boeing Company are saying roughly the same thing in terms of strength and direction of growth.\”
Craigs continued: \”We are seeing these forecasts come into reality as global and regional economies continue to gain in strength.\”
In the first six months of 2013, the Asia/Pacific region has seen an increase of almost 7.7 million additional international arrivals on the back of a growth rate for the period of 4.5% (year-on-year).
For more, go to http://www.pata.org/Intelligence .