Pacific Asia Travel Association Reports Good Numbers for 2009

The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) is reporting that 2009 was a good year for Asia-Pacific travel. Preliminary figures show that the number of international visitors grew by 3 percent year-on-year in November 2009.

Southeast Asia took the lead with a 15 percent increase in arrivals, thanks to 11 percent growth in Malaysia, 8 percent growth in Singapore, 26 percent in Thailand and 37 percent in Vietnam.

Although China faltered a little (arrivals fell by 2 percent), Chinese Taipei saw a major leap of 25 percent, Korea of 11 percent, Hong Kong of 8 percent, Macau of 3 percent and Japan of 2 percent.

More good news? In South Asia, the travel to the Maldives went up by 7 percent, up 8 percent to Nepal, and Sri Lanka travel saw a 20 percent increase. Unfortunately, travel to India was down by 1 percent. But overall, 2009 was a very good year for Asia Pacific travel.

Visit www.pata.org.