World tourism growth and its Asian focus

The annual Pisa forum runs for three days and is sponsored by IPK International. The forum studies trends in the world travel market and spends the three days discussing strategy and business. This year the travel industry magnet has continued its shift towards Asia, with markets like India and China expanding, nationals of these countries are experiencing unprecedented prosperity and freedom of movement.

Analysts pointed to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games as a big pull for national and international visitors to the city, keeping China well on its projected route to become the world’s number one travel destination by 2020.

Organizations like the European Trave4l Commission and the World Tourism Organization showed that the Asia pacific region is showing the biggest numbers, of both inbound and outbound passengers.

Tourists arriving form overseas increased by 10% in 2007, and 2006 was up 8% from the year before. The top eight Asian travel markets are China, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea. These markets account for more than 70 million outbound journeys according to the Asian Travel Monitor.