Asia Pacific leads global tourism growth – UNWTO
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The Asia Pacific region led growth in the global tourism market last year, thereby earning a large share of global tourism arrivals and revenues.
According to a new report from the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), the Asia and the Pacific welcomed 248 million international tourists in 2013. This is 15 million more than in 2012, marking an increase of 6% year on year, which makes it the fastest growing region of 2013. Meanwhile, tourism earnings in the region reached US$359 billion, up by US$30 billion or 8% from 2012. Looking at global market share, the Asia Pacific accounted for 23% of the global arrivals, and 31% of global tourism receipts.
At the subregional level, the UNWTO reports strongest growth in South East Asia, followed by South Asia, while North East Asia dominates the region on volume of arrivals.
South-East Asia was again the fastest growing subregion in the world in 2013, with an increase of 11% in international tourist arrivals on the back of buoyant intraregional demand. Thailand reported strong growth (+19%), welcoming 27 million tourists, 4 million more than in 2012. Among the smaller destinations, Myanmar has seen a surge in tourist arrivals in the last few years and recorded an extraordinary 52% increase in 2013. Timor-Leste (+42%) and Cambodia (+18%) also enjoyed high growth rates, as well as Vietnam (+11%), the Philippines (+10%) and Indonesia (+9%).
South Asia (+6%) also showed solid growth last year, as Sri Lanka welcomed 27% more tourists and Maldives 17%. The subregion’s largest destination India posted 4% growth, with seven million arrivals.
North-East Asia, the largest subregion in Asia and the Pacific with over half of all international arrivals in the region, saw a 4% increase last year. Japan (+24%) led this growth, reporting over 10 million arrivals for the first time ever. Taiwan (+10%) and the Republic of Korea (+9%) also experienced robust growth, as did Hong Kong (+8%) and Macao (+5%). After consecutive years of strong growth however, China saw a decline of 4% in arrivals compared to 2012.
Finally, Oceania saw an increase of 5% in tourist arrivals last year, with leading destination Australia posting 6% growth.
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