The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) has released preliminary figures showing excellent growth numbers for tourism in Asia during 2010. Strong performance in Southeast Asia, which includes Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand , highlighted the report with an 11% increase in international arrivals in 2010. Alex Francis of the online travel specialists travelmatch.co.uk, comments: “It has certainly been a strong year for the Asian market, especially in destinations such as Thailand and Malaysia, where we have seen an influx of tourists on one or two week trips.”

Kayaking tour in Halong Bay, Vietnam

PATA reported international arrivals to Thailand rose by 15% in September; the report also showed strong performance in the entire Asian market with 12% year on year growth. Other notable highlights include Sri Lanka and Myanmar which saw September increases of 25% and 29% respectively. PATA also found that Europeans are travelling in increasing numbers to Asia, demonstrated by a 12% increase in arrivals during the first nine months of 2010.