USA. The number of tourists arriving in the USA from the Asia Pacific region fell by 3.2% in 2018, according to analyst ForwardKeys.
The company predicts future travel patterns by analysing 17 million flight booking transactions a day and based its latest analysis on stays lasting between 1 and 21 nights.
The Kilauea volcano eruption in Hawaii – a major destination for Japanese travellers to the USA – contributed to a drop in US-bound tourism in the second half of 2018, ForwardKeys said.
Additionally, the number of Chinese visitors to the USA during the year remained flat amid the ongoing trade war between the two countries. Asia Pacific represents a 20% market share of US inbound travel.
More positively, the ForwardKeys figures showed a 3.2% year-on-year increase in European visitors to the USA in 2018, representing a 38% market share. But German tourists stayed away, with the number of visitors down 8.7% on 2017.
Total international tourist arrivals in the USA in 2018 showed “very modest growth”, according to ForwardKeys, up just 1% on the previous year.
The European nations leading the tourism growth are Ireland (up 14.1%), Spain (up 11.8%), and Italy (up 10.5%). The 1.3% growth from the Americas was led by Brazil (up 12.8%) and Colombia (up 10.3%).
New York City consolidated its position as the top US destination for international travellers, up 2.1%. The Northeast region as a whole grew by 2.8%. Fort Lauderdale, in Florida, and Detroit, in the Midwest, were the fastest growing destinations – up 12.8% and 12.5% respectively.
