According to recently released report by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), the year 2017 saw a record number of foreign arrivals for the Asia-Pacific region. Among the destinations in the Asia/Pacific, Vietnam, Turkey, and Nepal saw the fastest growth.

The findings were part of the PATA's Annual Tourism Monitor 2018 Early Edition which covers foreign arrivals during the last 5 years to 47 destinations in the region.

In the year 2017, the region received nearly 35 million more foreign arrivals in 2017 than it did one year earlier. Only four of the 47 destinations reported declines in their inbound foreign arrival numbers, ranging from 4,000 to nearly 3.9 million.

Intra-regional travel also reported strong numbers for arrivals, with China amounting for about 112.4 travelers, followed by Hong Kong (95 million), the United States (47.6 million), Korea (28 million), and Canada (27 million).

China was the top destination, followed by the United States, Hong Kong, Mexico, and Thailand.

Vietnam saw the biggest gain in visitor arrivals (30%), followed by Turkey (27%), Nepal (24.9%), Colombia (24.7%), and the Northern Marianas (24.3%).

PATA CEO Mario Hardy noted: “2017 was yet another record year for the aggregate volume of foreign arrivals into Asia-Pacific… 30 of the 47 destinations covered in this report showing annual growth in excess of five per cent – in fact 17 of these were in the double-digit growth range, with only a few showing contractions.”

Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.