ASIA PACIFIC. International visitor arrivals (IVAs) to Asia Pacific destinations climbed by +4.9% year-on-year in Q3 2017, hitting 88.7 million, according to Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA).
The figures were released in PATA’s Quarterly Tourism Monitor, which covers 28 destinations in the region.
In Northeast Asia, Japan outperformed its neighbours with an impressive +18.8% leap while South Korea posted a sharp decline of -34.8% in the period. The fall in inbound Korean tourism was linked to tensions between China and South Korea over the latter’s deployment of US anti-missile system THAAD earlier this year. That prompted the Chinese government to ban group tours from March, though the ban is now being eased after an apparent resolution of the dispute between the two countries.
In South Asia, India and the Maldives led growth with year-on-year IVA increases of +12.1% and +4.9% respectively.
In Southeast Asia Indonesia stood out with healthy growth of +30.1% for the quarter, boosted by strong traffic from China (+46.2%) and India (+45.6%).
In the Pacific region, Northern Marianas reported the strongest growth of +22.4% in Q3, driven by an +18% increase in visitor arrivals from China. Fiji followed with an increase of +6.7% in the period.
A rebound in Russian traffic has boosted several Asian markets, and Thailand in particular. With a +4.9% increase, Russian arrivals to Thailand reached 160,962. Indonesia also experienced sharp growth (+37.8%) from this source market.
