Market conditions starting to bite - PATA
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Latest figures released by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), indicate regional tourism growth, although still positive, is slowing.
In the PATA statistics detailing international arrivals to 39 destinations across Asia Pacific, year-to-date growth rates dropped to 5.4%, compared to 8.0% for the same period in 2007. The physical head count of arrivals however, only tells half the story, with industry reports suggesting that the current economic climate and a number of other factors are taking their toll on visitors’ average length of stay, and the amount of revenues generated per stay.
Furthermore, a number of indicators suggest that the next 12 months could be even more difficult. Airline operating figures from IATA show that air carriers in Asia Pacific saw reduced numbers in August (-3.1% year-on-year).
“Wall Street is having an impact as well on the travel industry. As the Dow Jones slid drastically last week, a number of tourism-related stocks - particularly publicly-listed airlines and hotels – followed suit. The last few weeks show how the fortunes of the travel and tourism industry are tightly connected to overall business sentiment,” said John Koldowski, Director - Strategic Intelligence Centre, PATA.
PATA is hosting its Tourism Strategy Forum in Kunming, China, from 30 October to 1 November, to tackle the industry’s response to these challenges. The event will focus on best practice in research and its application in the development and execution of tourism strategy.
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