FOXTROTS
Fox – sly. Trots – left-leaning (Trotsky) plus its more insalubrious meaning. Foxtrots – leading the industry in a dance.
2007 January 29
Outbound
Asia. Up 4%?
Overall counts on outbound travel for the whole of Asia Pacific in late 2006 (not precise, but estimated from data collected by the Pacific Asia Travel Association), shows that regional growth was 4% year-to-date, and slowing.
That compares with about 6% growth for all-2005.
Both sets of figures are slower than growth in inbound travel counts. And that in turn probably shows that the faster inbound growth is being driven from markets inside Asia Pacific.
Among certain key markets:
– The
Japan market – once the most-sought-after in Asia Pacific – has struggled for so long that many have forgotten that it still exists. But there is not much in the latest data that seems likely to change this. Year-to-date growth was at 2%, although the most-recent month produced a better 4%.
–
Australia – becoming a market difficult to read – was up 3% year-to-date, but fell in the latest month.
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