• Japan is the top trending global destination due to its universal appeal and weak currency
• India is becoming the biggest and fastest growing major market in the world
• Chinese tourists continue to prioritise domestic over international travel

Destinations in Asia-Pacific are trending globally, snagging half of the top 10 hotspots with the greatest momentum among travellers, while passenger traffic in the region is showing strong signs of rebound, particularly for shorthaul trips, and India continues to position itself as the leading global player.

The fifth Travel Trends 2024: Breaking Boundaries report from Mastercard Economics Institute (MEI) offers insights into the evolving landscape of the travel industry across 74 markets, including 13 in Asia-Pacific.

Japan emerged as the number one trending destination worldwide, growing at 0.9 per cent, with 3,081,600 international visitors arriving in March 2024. According to the report, this is the highest level on record and sits ahead of the peak travel season.

“There’s no big surprise that we’ve been seeing Japan gain so much momentum on the travel scale. It’s an attractive place to go with many special experiences to be had and great food to be tasted, but also the weak yen, which is at the lowest level since 1990 on a bilateral basis against the Euro,” said David Mann, chief economist Asia-Pacific at Mastercard.

The report also revealed that passenger traffic in Asia-Pacific is rebounding, especially with regard to intra-regional trips. For example, it flagged up this summer’s top outbound destinations from Singapore, which includes Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Perth.

“Also, this year, we’re expecting to see a full recovery of tourist arrivals into Thailand, which is now only a few percentage points below where it was in 2019,” Mann said, adding that total visitor arrivals are now only seven per cent below 2019 levels.

However, inbound flight traffic from South Asia and the South-east Asia region sits at nearly 20 per cent above 2019 levels.

Eyeing up the Indian market
“The India travel story will only become bigger and bigger over the next few years and beyond. Firstly, we have to talk about the story of the middle-class itself. We have nearly 20 million more people by our estimates entering the middle-class in the next five years,” said Mann.

“We already should be seeing another two million entering the higher income groups, and we’re seeing more international trips coming from India than any time in history. In India’s case, it’s the biggest and fastest growing major market in the world now, and in the foreseeable future.”

In the first three months of 2024, 97 million passengers travelled through Indian airports. A decade ago, this figure would have taken one year to achieve. Domestic passenger traffic is 21 per cent higher than 2019 levels, with international passenger traffic up by four per cent, as of March 2024.

The MEI report also revealed that Indian travellers to key markets rose significantly in 2024 compared to 2019. Visitors to Japan increased by 53 per cent, to Vietnam by 248 per cent, which was attributed to the addition of direct flights, and visitors to the US jumped by 59 per cent.

Chinese domestic travel remains strong
The MEI report highlighted that Mainland China’s travel movement has shifted, with more Chinese tourists prioritising domestic over international travel.

“We actually saw a full recovery of travellers domestically in China one year ago. Even as of today, we’re about 15 per cent above where we had been in 2019,” Mann said.

In the meantime, international tourism traffic leaving Mainland China continues to recover. It is now at 80.3 per cent of 2019 levels. In 2024, this is expected to gain momentum due to visa exemptions in Asia-Pacific and an increase in international flight capacity, benefitting destinations including Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

“The majority of the outbound trips that we’ve seen from the Chinese mainland have been going elsewhere in Asia, to parts of Europe, and into the Middle East,” Mann stated.

Leisure for longer
Mann noted that there is a rise in the leisure for longer trend, stating that “we’re seeing tourists extend their trips in the Asia-Pacific region outside of Australia and New Zealand by about 1.2 days compared to what we’ve been seeing in 2019 – so, the average trip is 7.4 days”.

He added that this trend is being driven by the affordability of destinations, warm weather and favourable exchange rates. This compares to the 2019 average of 6.1 days per trip. In Australia and New Zealand, the average stay has risen to 5.4 days, which marks an increase of 0.6 days compared to 2019.

“We believe the bigger patterns that we’ve been seeing on these extra days spent on trips have been in places where the hotel price gains have been relatively lower,” said Mann, adding that “the longer people stay, there’ll be spending on other things, not just on the hotel, therefore helping local economies even more”.