New preliminary statistics from the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) have revealed a 3 per cent increase in the number of inbound visitors to the region in November 2009.
Compared with the same period for the previous year, south east Asia posted a 15 per cent increase in tourist numbers to help drive the region's growth, with a majority of sub-regions all reporting more international arrivals.
Strong rebounds in Singapore (8 per cent), Thailand (26 per cent) and Vietnam (37 per cent), as well as 11 per cent growth for Malaysia, helped to boost south east Asia. North east Asia posted overall growth, despite a 2 per cent decline in tourist numbers visiting China.
The only region to post a decrease in inbound tourism for November 2009 was the Americas, which posted an average fall in visitor numbers of 3 per cent due mainly to an 11 per cent decrease in Canadian arrivals.
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Kris Lim, director of PATA's Strategic Intelligence Centre, said: "We are regaining some of the lost ground as travel demand continues to pick up in the last few months of 2009. The year-to-date rate of decline in international visitor arrivals to the region has now eased to a loss of just three percent over the January-to-November period.
"Based on the latest available results for December 2009 the recovery momentum in arrivals remains strong for many destinations in the region. This is very encouraging and we may look with greater confidence to the year ahead."
