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Asia-Pacific region to see tourism
boom
By Clive Freeman
BERLIN
- With tourism increasing at twice the global average in
the Asia-Pacific region, travel experts are predicting
that China, India, Southeast Asia and Australia are
destined to become major players in worldwide travel.
The Asia-Pacific region, which is home to
two-thirds of the world's population, continues to grow
rapidly, and currently generates some 60 percent of
global tourism demand. Intra-regional travel already
accounts for an astonishing 70 percent of arrivals to
Asia-Pacific countries.
This region is the "new
engine" of global travel and tourism "with China and
India driving that growth", said Peter de Jong,
president and chief executive of the Pacific Asian
Tourism Association. "With an estimated annual GDP
[gross domestic product] growth rate average of 5.5
percent over the next five years, the region is expected
to comfortably outpace the rest of the world."
China is expected to average a growth of 8
percent, India 6 percent and Vietnam 7 percent, he said.
That interest was obvious at the world travel
and tourism fair in Berlin that ended on Tuesday. Large
crowds visited the stands of China, Hong Kong,
Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
"Since the red tape was relaxed between Hong
Kong and mainland China, the number of visitors has
increased dramatically," said Kevin Welch, regional
director of the Hong Kong Tourism Board.
"There's a huge interest in China
internationally," Welch said. "We have more visitors
from China every year, and as a natural gateway to
China, Hong Kong is very well placed to benefit from
it."
Hong Kong seems set to be a big winner in
the tourism business. "We had growth from every part of
the world last year, including about 8 percent growth
from Europe," Welch said. "So we are not just talking
about the dramatic increase in arrivals from China."
Hong Kong is launching several new tourism and
infrastructure projects, including a Disney cable-car
theme park due to open in 2005 and an international
finance center that will include one of the world's
tallest buildings. Other plans include a huge Ferris
wheel at the end of the ocean pier terminal, an aviation
museum, new hotels, and a sports stadium.
China
is seeing many more tourist arrivals as well. Paul Chiu,
managing director of a Hong Kong tour and travel
company, said China recorded 97.91 million arrivals last
year, a 10 percent increase over 2001.
Tourism
is rising across the whole region. Tassna Wongat,
London-based regional director of the Thailand Tourism
Authority, said India and China are of growing
importance, and that "the whole of Asia is the number
one market for us, with Europe in second place".
About 550,00 tourists headed to Thailand from
Britain last year. More than 400,000 arrived from
Germany. "We are attractive because to the north we have
mountain resorts, valleys and trekking in the jungle,
whereas in the south you find splendid hotels and fine
beach resorts," Wongat said.
"The trouble now is
all this talk of war," he said. "This affects tourist
trends. Last year we registered an average increase of 6
percent. We expected a higher increase, but people
became uncertain after the Bali bombing, and all the
travel warnings from government officials in Australia."
Peter de Jong said the countries and territories
that have attracted the best growth, such as China,
Thailand, Vietnam and New Zealand, are "those generally
seen as safe".
Sri Lanka has benefited from the
start of peace negotiations with the Tamils, and Fiji's
16.5 percent growth is due to a strong recovery after
two years of downturn that followed the attempted coup
in May 2000, tour operators said.
(Inter Press
Service)
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