Bangkok – Asia Pacific destinations collectively welcomed close to 520 million international visitor arrivals (IVAs) in 2013 according to the Pacific Asia Travel Association’s (PATA’s) just released Annual Tourism Monitor 2014 Early Edition. Covering 42 destinations across 11 sub-regions of the Asia Pacific region, this report gives a five-year perspective on travel flows into and within this dynamic and vigorous part of the world. Key findings from the report show that: –  Between 2009 and 2013 the growth in IVAs into Asia Pacific grew by an average of 6.3 percent per annum, moderating in 2013 to 5.3 percent year-on-year. –  Destinations in Asia captured just fewer than three-quarters of the total foreign inbound volume in 2013 (74 percent), with the Americas taking up around 22 percent and the Pacific sub-region the remaining four percent. –  Within the Asia context, Northeast Asia captured some 243 million IVAs in 2013 followed by Southeast Asia (98 million), West Asia (38 million) and South Asia (9.9 million) The top three Asia Pacific destinations by volume of arrivals in 2013 were: China                           129.077 million The USA                       69.746 million Hong Kong SAR       54.299 million While by annual growth (percent), the top three Asia Pacific destinations were: Myanmar                  +51.7 percent Niue                             +39.6 percent Sri Lanka                  +26.7 percent Among the principal source markets, Hong Kong SAR, China and the USA were the largest contributors in terms of the absolute number of visitor arrivals, while China, the Russian Federation and Vietnam contributed the greatest annual increase in volume between 2012 and 2013. In addition to the aggregate inbound counts of foreign arrivals, this Early Edition report also provides an extensive review of 13 major source markets across the destinations of the Asia Pacific in calendar year 2013. Martin J. Craigs, CEO of PATA, commented that “This report provides a first look at the detailed movement of foreign arrivals into Asia Pacific destinations during 2013 and when combined with the recently released PATA forecasts for the period 2014-2018 gives all of us in the travel and tourism industry a solid quantifiable measure of what just eventuated during the year, and what the likely projections will be for the coming five-year period.” He further added: “As such it is an indispensable tool to assist in making those important marketing resource allocation decisions in the immediate future.” Source: PATA Annual Travel Monitor 2014 Early Edition