eFlyer Asia - Intelligence

Korea Bucks Regional Trend

The latest figures released by the Pacific Asia Travel Association indicate the numbers of international visitor arrivals to Asia Pacific fell by an estimated 6 per cent in the first six months of 2009 compared to the same period last year. However, Taiwan and South Korea bucked this trend with double-digit growth of 10 per cent and 14.1 per cent respectively.

PATA’s report, which covers 41 Asia-Pacific destinations, noted that following the outbreak of the global flu pandemic, in May the region’s travel and tourism sector immediately experienced a marked 10 per cent decline in visitor numbers. There was, however, a slight improvement in June.

All five sub-regions posted declines in visitor numbers, with South Asia recording the largest fall at 8.1 per cent. The largest sub-region in Asia Pacific, Northeast Asia, registered the smallest rate of decline at 5.2 per cent, but lost more than 5 million international arrivals in volume terms.

Given this regional decline, Korea’s figures are all the more impressive. Some 4.4 million tourists visited Korea in the first six months of 2009. The Korean Tourism Organization said the first quarter even broke record numbers by bringing in the most passengers since Korea started recording tourist statistics.

  The largest increases were from Japan (39 per cent) and China (7.9 per cent). A combination of a persistent push by the KTO, promotions involving Korean movie and music stars within Asia, and the strength of the yen and U.S. dollar are thought to have helped increase arrivals in Korea this year.

 

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