China, Korea, Japan and Taiwan account for 20% of travel expenses

Travelers from four major markets in the Asia-Pacific region accounted for nearly a fifth of the world's travel spending last year, highlighting the region's renewed appetite for Tourism, according to a new report from the financial services company Mastercard.

Overnight visitors from mainland China, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan accounted for 18.5% of travel spending in the world's 200 largest cities in 2018, compared to 11% ten years earlier, according to the new Mastercard study entitled "Index of Global Destination Cities: Origins".

The report, which relies on data from third-party sources, including the World Travel & Tourism Council, examined the total number of arrivals of international visitors of a night or more in 2018 in order to find the major travel markets to depart from around the world. It is part of a larger Mastercard study of the global tourism industry, due later this year.

The United States continued to contribute to the largest number of international overnight arrivals in the 200 largest cities in 2018, accounting for 9.9% of the global total. However, the report revealed that the Asia-Pacific region has seen a marked improvement in the past decade.

Mainland China (excluding Hong Kong and Macao) moved from seventh place in 2009 to second place last year, accounting for 9% of international arrivals worldwide. At the same time, South Korea and Taiwan ranked in the top 10 for the first time, representing respectively 3.4% and 2.3%. Japan, at 3.1%, lost two places in the last 10 years.

In terms of total travel spending, China led with 9.6%, followed closely by the United States with 9.2%.

1. WE.
2. Mainland China (except Hong Kong and Macau)
3. Germany
4. UNITED KINGDOM.
5. la France
6. South Korea
7. Japan
8. Canada
9. Russia
10. Taiwan

Business and leisure travel from the top 10 markets accounted for almost half (49.1%) of overnight international visitor arrivals to 200 destinations last year, and accounted for 48.4% of their spending. total, indicates the report.

According to the Senior Vice President of Data and Services for Mastercard Asia Pacific, Rupert Naylor, Vice President of Mastercard.

"What's most fascinating for us from an Asia-Pacific perspective is that not only has this region's contribution to global travel spending nearly doubled in the last decade. but we have barely scratched the surface in terms of the percentage of the population traveling overseas, "said Naylor.

Naylor said this was particularly important with regard to mainland China, India (12th) and Indonesia (19th) – three of the world's most populous countries.