PATA reports gains in 2012

PATA reports that international arrivals into Asia Pacific destinations grew by 7% year-on-year during the first two months of 2012. PATA’s preliminary data reveals that Southeast Asia is the fastest growing destination, followed by South Asia, however, both sub-regions generated somewhat slower growth than last year while North America and Northeast Asia saw an encouraging recovery after relatively sluggish growth in 2011. North America gained positive momentum reporting 6% year-to-date growth — an outstanding performance compared to the 2% year-on-year increase in the corresponding period last year. Both Canada and the US showed healthy results of 9% for the month of February 2012. Growth for Mexico was relatively slow with a 2% decline followed by a 3% increase for the first two months of 2012. Commenting on the preliminary results, PATA’s CEO, Martin Craigs said: “Even under the current constraints of the global economy, Asia Pacific continues to produce strong performances in international travel flows. This result, after just two months, has generated more than three million additional foreign arrivals into Asia Pacific destinations and puts the region on track to reach our forecast of 450 million arrivals for calendar year 2012.” Go to http://www.PATA.org for more.