Asia Pacific travel market surpasses US

The Asia Pacific (APAC) travel market surpassed the US last year, with a 17 percent increase pushing the region to second largest travel market worldwide.

According to a travel industry report, the PhoCusWright, the region’s fast growth was due to increased online access and economic recovery fuelling travel in emerging markets such as China and India.

Research senior director Douglas Quinby said online travel booked more than US$53 billion last year while the entire area reached over US$255.8 billion in travel money."But online travel penetration varies widely, reflecting the extraordinary differences among APAC's individual markets," Mr Quinby said.

"In more mature markets such as Japan and Australia/New Zealand, online penetration gains are slowing, while emerging online markets like India and China are now driving growth across the region."
However, growth in the region is not expected to slow down the next two years, with the report predicted online bookings to exceed US$70.6 billion by 2012.

Source = etravelblackboardasia