The Asia Pacific region is poised to lead the tourism recovery, according to the latest survey results from the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA).
Released alongside the Executive Summary Forecast report, the Asia Pacific Visitor Forecast 2024-2026 provides a detailed analysis of growth projections for 39 destinations.
CEO Noor Ahmad Hamid highlighted Asia’s pivotal role in driving tourism growth, projecting a surge in international visitor arrivals (IVA) to 762 million by 2026. Asia is expected to lead the charge, welcoming 564 million visitors.
Japan and the Maldives are standout performers, forecast to exceed pre-pandemic levels by 155% and 148% respectively by 2026. Key source markets such as China, the US, the UK and Australia in particular are expected to lead this growth, supported by a strong economic recovery.
Noor added: “The impact of Destination Marketing Organisations (DMOs) being more agile, flexible and resilient to rapid changes in the market, particularly the output from source markets, will play a key role in which destinations will perform better than others in the coming years.”
“The travel market is changing rapidly and consumer purchasing power is so dependent on user-generated content (UGC), so destination marketers and policymakers need to understand that what they do in 2023 may not work this year and beyond.”
