For the first nine months of this year all Asia Pacific sub-regions maintained a positive performance, although at different levels of growth: South Asia +14%,  Southeast Asia +12%, Northeast Asia +4%, The Pacific +1%

• South Asia: Led the pack in September with an 11% increase. It added nearly 60,000 more international visitors to the sub-region over the corresponding period last year. Arrivals from Asia to Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka increased significantly in both volume and growth rate.

The number of arrivals from Asian origin markets, supported by strong demand from China and India, was well above that of the European generating markets for the fifth consecutive month.This was also influenced by a downturn in arrivals from the UK and Italy to various South Asia destinations.

• Southeast Asia: Registered a relatively slower growth rate of 9% in September driven, in part, by a strong negative performance by Vietnam (-13%). Even so, the growth rates into all other destinations remained relatively strong, evident from the individual country performances: Myanmar (+25%), Thailand (+23%), Cambodia (+21%), Indonesia (+16%), the Philippines (+15%) and Singapore (+9%). Malaysia is still unable to release arrivals figures for 2011 because of difficulties with a new immigration system.

• Northeast Asia: Showed moderate growth for September with a collective gain of 5% year-on-year. Foreign arrivals into specific destinations were very strong: Korea ROK (+19%), Macau SAR (+18%), Hong Kong SAR (+17%), Chinese Taipei (+10%). At the other end of the spectrum, however, China saw another relatively passive month of weak demand (+0.5%). Foreign inbound traffic into Japan continued to improve progressively (-25%), but still very slowly.

Year-to-date growth in arrivals to this sub-region remains slower at 4% following a very strong increase of 12% in the January to September period of 2010. This downward shift reflects some softening in travel demand to the sub-region that can be attributed, at least in part, to the continuing uncertainty associated with radiation in Japan.

• The Pacific: Travel demand remained sluggish during September with arrivals to the sub-region growing by only 1%. Growth for was supported by the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, which saw an increase of +26% in foreign arrivals. However, this event was in part responsible for dampening outbound from New Zealand to Australia, resulting in an overall decline of 9% for Australia during September.

Most Pacific island nations recorded year-on-year increases in international arrivals for the month of September. The only exceptions were the Northern Marianas (-15%), Samoa (-14%), Guam (-6%) and the Cook Islands (-1%).

“International arrivals momentum into the Asia/Pacific region continues to hold at a relatively strong average rate of around 6%,” said Martin Craigs, PATA CEO. “The rising tide is not, however, lifting all boats equally. A few Asia Pacific destinations are facing difficulties and experiencing contracting numbers of visitors.”