Published on : Thursday, October 25, 2018
The findings show that international tourist arrivals in Asia and the Pacific reached 323 million in 2017 recording a rise of six percent. The world average for arrivals of tourist is four percent.
Asia and the Pacific are second only to Europe in attracting tourists. These regions are home to about 56 percent of the world’s population i.e. 42 billion. However, what boosted the arrivals to Asia and the Pacific were better infrastructure, increasing air connectivity, and better travel packages and services. The share of Asia and the Pacific as a proportion of the world’s arrivals increased to 24 percent in 2017 from that of 16 percent in 2000.
Rapid increase in tourism has had a positive effect on the earnings of Asian tourism destinations. As a part of world total, the earnings’ share of Asian countries rose from 17 percent to 29 percent from 2009 to 2017. The tourist receipts of Asian destinations were U.S. dollar 390 billion.
North-East Asian destinations witnessed maximum (50 percent, 160 million arrivals) international tourist arrivals in Asia and the Pacific region. About 37 percent were recorded in South-East Asia (120 million), 8 percent in South Asia (27 million) and 5 percent in Oceania (17 million).
China is the top destination in arrivals in 2017 (61 million) and the sixth largest in receipts (U.S. dollars 33 billion). Thailand is the top tourism earner (U.S. dollars 57 billion) and number two in arrivals (35 million).
About 335 million international travellers from Asia and the Pacific region spent U.S. dollars 502 billion in 2017. This was about 37 per cent of the world total.
The Asia Tourism Trends – 2018 Edition also focuses on EU-China relations, the growth of Greater Bay Area, tourism prospects and other details pertaining to Asia and the Pacific.