India garners top ranking for international tourist spending in the APAC region

India has emerged as the fastest-growing Asia Pacific market for international tourist spending, according to new figures released Monday by Visa Asia Pacific.

Visa’s spending data shows that tourists to India spent US$372 million during the fourth quarter of 2005, which represents a 25 percent increase over the same period in 2004. China, where tourists spent $784 million in the period of October to December 2005, was the second fastest-growing market in Asia Pacific with a 23 percent year-on-year rise, according to a release.

It further added that India and China also topped the region when it came to average spending per transaction. The regional average spend per transaction was US$156.

Overall, international travelers to and within the region spent $6.5 billion on their Visa cards in the final quarter of 2005, representing a 12 percent increase over the same period in 2004 and a 14 percent increase over the third quarter in 2005 [$5.8 billion].

“While tourism spending is up virtually across the board, our data confirms that India is rapidly becoming a more mainstream tourism destination, with tourist receipts expected to grow significantly over the next few years,” said Paul Dowling, Visa Asia Pacific’s Executive Vice President for Corporate Relations. “In Q4, our numbers show that India is quickly emerging as a destination of choice among travelers from the US, UK, France, Australia and Germany in numbers we have not previously seen,”
it was stated.

The top five regional destinations that benefited from the increase in inbound tourist spending over the previous final quarter were Australia ($1.1billion), China ($784 million), Thailand ($783 million), Hong Kong ($647 million) and Japan ($452 million). Tourists from the US, UK, Japan, Australia and Hong Kong were the biggest spenders in Asia Pacific, accounting for 54 percent of total spending on Visa cards between October and December 2005, as per the information available.