International tourist arrivals to South Asia last year rose an estimated 12 per cent year-on-year, according to preliminary results released Friday by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), dpa reported. "For the first 11 months of the year, South Asia was the star growth performer, followed by South-East Asia, North-East Asia and the Pacific, all of which saw tourism demand improve albeit at different rates of growth," PATA said in a statement. The travel association said that overall arrivals to the Asia-Pacific rose 5 to 6 per cent last year, above the global growth figure of 4 per cent. Strong European travel to South Asia during October and November helped boost arrivals to the Maldives by 22 per cent, Nepal by 17 per cent, and Sri Lanka by 26 per cent, PATA said. South-East Asia, which was hard hit by massive floods late last year, saw tourist arrivals rise 7 per cent in October and 3 per cent in November, the association said. "Thailand, although partially impacted by flooding - and a negative perception of the extent of the flooding - realised a gain of 8 per cent and a loss of 18 per cent in foreign arrivals during October and November 2011 respectively, compared to the corresponding periods in 2010," PATA said. Overall, growth in international arrivals to South-East Asia for calendar year 2011 is expected to be around 11 per cent. Arrivals to North-East Asia grew 4 to 5 per cent in 2011, dragged down by a 29-per-cent decline in arrivals to Japan. Pacific destination such as Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific islands "had a sluggish year with expected year-on-year growth in arrivals expected to be largely flat for calendar year 2011."
