According to the UNWTO’s World Tourism Barometer report on the first half of 2012, ASEAN countries are some of the fastest growing tourism destinations in the world with China as he biggest growing contributor of international visitor arrivals to the region.

International visitor arrivals into Myanmar rose 36% during this period, Cambodia 26%, Singapore 12%, Philippines 12%, Vietnam 11% and Thailand 8%.

Southeast Asia as a region had a 9% increase in arrivals compared to 4% for Europe, 5% for America, and 7% for Africa.

ASEAN Secretariat statistics showed the number of Chinese tourists visiting ASEAN increased from 3.9 million in 2007 to 7.3 million in 2011. The annual rate of increase grew from 6.3% to 9% in the same period.

With further implementation of the November 2010 ASEAN-China Air Transport Agreement, Chinese and ASEAN officials expect the rate of increase to grow faster.

“The latest forecasts we have are that China’s contribution to ASEAN’s international visitor arrivals will continue at an accelerated rate,” said Ma Mingqiang, Secretary-General of the ASEAN-China Centre (pictured below right) in Beijing.

China has caught up with the European Union as the biggest source of tourists to ASEAN, with each contributing to about 9% of total international visitor arrivals to the region.

To further boost bilateral tourism relations the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) has provided ASEAN with two booths to at the China International Travel Mart (CITM) in Shanghai from November 15-18.

At the show ASEAN nations of Southeast Asia will highlight the region’s proximity to China, increasing low cost carrier links and an abundance of new travel products suitable for China’s emerging middle classes.

To enhance the bilateral ties ASEAN Tourism will launch a dedicated Chinese language website in January 2013. ASEAN, in cooperation with the ASEAN-China Centre, will also feature Southeast Asian tourism content on sinaweibo.com, China’s largest social media platform.

An interesting new trend is emerging among Chinese tourists to ASEAN destinations. While Chinese visitors have frequented ASEAN’s cities, shopping malls and theme parks for years there is now a clear demand from a younger Chinese demographic for beach holidays, formerly the reserve of Western tourists and more recently Japanese and Korean travellers.