Today’s AP voice is from our VP of Sales for Asia and the Middle East, Michelle Low.
Unsurprisingly, strong economic growth across the Asia Pacific has gone hand in hand with a significant uptick in tourism, both inter-regional and international. In today’s post, I look at some of the key figures around this uptick and the trends that will continue to drive tourism across the region. Asian countries have awoken to the benefits of promoting tourism by opening markets and encouraging increased air routes. And tourists have heard the call. Data by the UN shows that the Asia Pacific is the second most visited region in the world after Europe and has seen the fastest growth. In fact, the region outperformed all other regions around the world, marking eight consecutive years of growth since 2010. The best news for independent hotels is that there are numerous opportunities to attract guests. In 2017, Asia Pacific welcomed 324 million tourists, about a quarter of the world’s tourists. 75 percent of the inbound travel spending in Asia-Pacific is on leisure with the remainder being spent on business. While one-third of travellers stay for short trips lasting 0-3 days, over one-quarter stay for 4-7 days while another quarter of travellers stay for more than 12 days. Of particular interest to the sales and marketing teams of independent hotels will no doubt be the trends that currently fuel and will continue to drive travels to the Far East.