ASIA PACIFIC. Outbound traffic across Asia Pacific rose by +9% year-on-year in the 12 to March 2018, reaching 460 million departures. The figures were provided by Swiss research agency m1nd-set and its Business 1ntelligence Service (B1S) tool.
The volumes in Asia Pacific represented just under one-third of international traffic worldwide. The region ranks second in terms of growth behind Europe, which saw a +9.5% increase over the past 12 months.
South East Asia enjoyed the most dynamic growth among all sub-regions, with just under +13% growth, accounting for one third of the entire region’s international traffic. South Asia also showed buoyant growth at just under +10%. The largest sub-region in Asia Pacific, North East Asia, which accounts for just under half of all international traffic from the region, experienced less dynamic growth at +7%.
Kuala Lumpur was the fastest growing airport among the top 20 airports in the region, with passenger numbers increasing by +16% over the 12 months through March 2018. Kansai and Tokyo Haneda also showed double-digit growth rates. The other top five airports in the region for passenger growth were Manila and Bangkok, which both follow closely behind with +9% growth between April 2017 and March 2018. Hong-Kong, Singapore and Incheon will again rank among the top airports for international departures in 2018, surpassing the 30 million barrier, said m1nd-set. Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur follow in the ranking with 24 and 23 million.
By nationality, Singaporeans and South Koreans lead growth rates with the most dynamic increases in outbound traffic at around +19% each. Travellers from Malaysia and the Philippines also posted double-digit growth over the last 12 months, at just over +11%. The least dynamic growth by nationality was seen in China at less than +5% and Hong Kong, with less than +2% year-on-year.
m1nd-set B1S Director Pablo Saez Gil said: “The region experienced a significant boost in the number of international travellers in the region during the 2018 Chinese New Year celebrations, taking outbound traffic to unprecedented levels. Traffic during the last three months this year increased by over +9% compared to the same period in 2017. Interestingly, outbound traffic in the region in January this year reached its highest peak to date with 41 million passengers. We expect to continue to see strong growth rates, as this coming August, our short term forecasts show the number of international departures in the region is set to surpass 43 million for the first time. The next 12-month forecast for the region is less dynamic but given the current short-term trends, we expect this to change.”
