Asia’s second-tier cities on the rise as new go-to destinations

The traditional favourites of Bangkok, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur continue to dominate the list of Asia’s top 10 tourist destinations, based on findings from the Mastercard Asia Pacific Destinations Index (APDI) 2018, but travellers are increasingly seeking new and more off-the beaten track destinations such as Oita in Japan, Daegu in South Korea and Halong in Vietnam.

The traditional favourites of Bangkok, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur continue to dominate the list of Asia’s top 10 tourist destinations, based on findings from the Mastercard Asia Pacific Destinations Index (APDI) 2018, but travellers are increasingly seeking new and more off-the beaten track destinations such as Oita in Japan, Daegu in South Korea and Halong in Vietnam.

Secondary cities like Daegu (pictured) in South Korea are seeing more visitor arrivals

In 2017, the 160 Asia-Pacific destinations analysed in the APDI grew by 5.6% in international overnight tourist arrivals over 2016 and generated 333 million international overnight arrivals, with Bangkok retaining the top spot.

In particular, smaller tourist cities across the region are seeing a higher growth of international overnight arrivals for 2017 than their bigger city siblings. This is partly driven by travellers’ desire to visit destinations that are more unique and offer a more enriching cultural experience, the report added.

While these second-tier cities could become Asia’s next tourist hubs, Mastercard advises that strategic investment in travel infrastructure made to achieving and sustaining the rapid growth in inbound tourism, including the strategic development of basic infrastructure such as airports to public transport, cleaning up public spaces and ensuring access to clean water.

Notably, China stood out as the only country where its secondary cities are growing at a much faster rate than its primary cities. The findings revealed that the compound annual growth rate of visitor arrivals from 2009 to 2017 was more than double in China’s secondary cities (9.0 %) versus its primary cities (3.9 %).

The index also showed that tourists are increasingly visiting secondary cities in China, with tourist arrivals in Shenzhen, Chengdu and Wuhan growing faster than in popular destinations such as Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing.

Interestingly, in the last eight years (2009 – 2017), the average daily expenditure across Asia-Pacific destinations has increased by approximately 10% from US$135 to US$148, while the average length of stay has decreased by approximately 11% from 5.94 to 5.35 days.

This means on average tourists are staying for a shorter period of time but spending more on their trips. Cities will be able to channel additional tourist dollars earned into infrastructure investment for growth and development, the report added.

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