In 2013 world tourism arrivals grew by 5% surpassing the expected growth of 4%, in numbers international tourism reached 1087 Million in 2013. Asia & Pacific region was the strongest growing region with 6% growth & 248 Million arrivals, Europe & Africa grew by 5%, south Asian region also grew by 6.1% in 2013.
China was the main source market for tourism in the world with 129 USD$ Billion spendings
South East Asia recorded the biggest growth as a region which is 10.5% & in the South Asian region Sri Lanka has reached the highest growth as a individual country which is 26.7% with 1,274,593 number of passengers in 2013.
Overall in the global context tourism is constantly growing & our region is growing at a higher % than other regions.
In Sri Lanka, usual traditional markets such as India, UK, Germany, France keeps on growing & nontraditional but emerging markets (Fareast) like China, Japan, ME, Korea highly contributing to the inbound tourism industry in Sri Lanka.
Summary
· International tourist arrival grew by 5% worldwide in 2013, reaching a record 1087 million arrivals
· Asia and the Pacific recorded the strongest growth with a 6% increase in arrivals, followed by Europe and Africa (both +5%).
World tourism Market growth in 2013
· Europe - 5.4 %
· Asia and Pacific - 6.2 %
· South East Asia - 10.5 %
· South Asia - 6.1%
Asia pacific region market growth % in 2013
· Norte east Asia - 3.5 %
· South East Asia - 10.5 %
· South Asia - 6.1 %
· SRI LANKA - 26.7 %
When you look at the above growth it clearly shows that Sri Lankan growth is above all as a % which proves that Sri Lanka is in very high demand.
Going further I more step, let’s look at the inbound tourism growth during 1st 5 months of 2014
Overall National growth – 26.5 % compared to last year corresponding period
By Dhanushka Wijeyekoon
Senior Assistant Marketing Manager – Tours
NKAR Travels & Tours (Pvt) Ltd
Sri Lanka.
