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.
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.
He will replace Ignatius Ong, who joined Malaysia Airlines (MAS) as group chief revenue officer in June 2018. Ong has since then worn double hats.
Data from the jetliner showed that the pilots appeared to struggle with an automated system designed to keep the plane from stalling – a new feature in the 737 Max family.
The Boeing 737’s nose was repeatedly forced down over two dozen times during the 11-minute flight, even when the plane was not stalling – possibly due to a faulty sensor, the report stated.
It is, however, unclear why the pilots did not turn off the automated system.
The report, which did not give a definite cause for the deadly incident, also added that it was too early to conclude if the anti-stall system had contributed to the crash.
KNKT is continuing investigations, with a more detailed report expected to be completed within 12 months.
Boeing, in response to KNKT findings, said it is “deeply saddened” by the loss of Lion Air flight 610.
“As our customers and their passengers continue to fly the 737 MAX to hundreds of destinations around the world every day, they have our assurance that the 737 MAX is as safe as any airplane that has ever flown the skies,” Boeing said in a statement.
Meanwhile, KNKT has recommended that Lion Air improve its safety culture and should ensure the operations manual is followed “in order to improve the safety culture”.
It also urged the Indonesian carrier to ensure that “all operations documents are properly filled and documented”.