The Asia Pacific region is poised to spearhead the resurgence of
tourism, according to the latest findings by the Pacific Asia Travel
Association (PATA).
Released alongside the Executive Summary Forecasts Report, the Asia
Pacific Visitor Forecasts 2024-2026 offers an in-depth analysis of
growth projections across 39 destinations.
CEO Noor Ahmad Hamid underlined the pivotal role of Asia in driving
tourism growth, with forecasts indicating a surge in international
visitor arrivals (IVAs) to 762 million by 2026. Leading this charge,
Asia is expected to welcome 564 million visitors.
Japan and the Maldives emerged as standout performers, projected to
surpass pre-pandemic levels by 155% and 148%, respectively, by 2026.
Notably, major source markets such as China, the US, the UK, and
Australia are set to fuel this growth, supported by robust economic
recoveries.
Noor added: “The ramifications for destination marketing
organisations (DMOs) to be more agile, flexible and robust to quick
changes in the marketplace, especially output from the source market
will play a crucial role on which destination will perform better than
the other in the coming years.
“Destination marketeers and policy makers must understand that what
they do in 2023, might no longer work from this year onwards, as the
travel market shifts expeditiously while consumer buying power depends
very much upon user-generated content (UGC).”