PATA joins hands with academia to unveil APAC's visitor outlook

PATA has come together with Hong Kong Polytechnic University's (PolyU) School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM) to release a joint publication, Asia Pacific Visitor Forecasts 2013-2017, which, according to the collaborators, will help tourism practitioners anticipate future trends of the visitor economy.

Published annually with a quarterly breakdown, the Asia Pacific Visitor Forecasts 2013-2017 will offer information on visitor arrivals from key source markets to 41 destinations in Asia-Pacific, as well as visitor expenditures and departures of these PATA member economies.

Covering a five-year horizon (up from three), the forecasts also include price elasticity variables for a majority of the destinations.

According to Kaye Chon, dean of SHTM at PolyU, the forecasts will help tourism planners and operators strategise their long-term decision and policy making by predicting arrivals, tourism receipts and departures according to country/region of origins.

Added Haiyen Song, associate dean (research) and chair professor, SHTM, PolyU, who is heading the forecast unit: “Airlines, for example, can use these forecasts to predict traffic flows from different source markets, which plus their own data, can provide a general trend (of the industry). Travel (consultants) can use these data to look out for potential markets.”

PATA CEO, Martin Craigs, said: “The scope and quality of the forecasts will add value to our many different members across 17 time zones and many different functional groups.”

Song also presented forecast highlights at the PATA media briefing yesterday. He pointed out that visitor arrivals to Asia-Pacific will continue to grow with an average annual growth rate of 4.1 per cent from 2013-2017 and reach 581 million by 2017. North-east Asia will maintain a dominant position in the region’s inbound market, with its market share expected to reach 53.5 per cent by 2017.

China is predicted to remain the top inbound destination in Asia-Pacific, peaking at 147.4 million visitors in 2017, while its outbound traffic to the region will exceed 100 million by 2015.

The Asia Pacific Visitor Forecasts 2013-2017 will be available to government members and premier partners of PATA through the PATAmPower insights tool. Other members may purchase the forecasts, while customised versions are available upon request for an additional fee.

-TTG Asia.