WTO's International Tourism Summary for 1998: East Asia and the Pacific

The World Tourism Organization published preliminary summaries of international tourist arrivals and receipts for 1998, by region and for the 40 top destinations and 40 top earners. The global total of international tourist arrivals was 625 million in 1998 (excluding day-visits), 2.4% up on 1997 (which had showed a similar increase on 1996), with record arrivals for five regions, although East Asia and the Pacific's 86.9 million arrivals in 1998 were 1.2% down on 1997 (following a similar decrease on 1996). Tourist arrivals are presented for the 40 countries of the six sub-regions of EAP, with annual changes from 1994 to 1997 and some 1998 data and all-year estimates, also Trend-Cycles for Singapore. Receipts reported from international tourism in EAP totalled US$76.6 billion in 1997 (including receipts from day-visitors, excluding International Fares), 7% below 1996 (in current US$), detailed for 34 countries of the region, and in 1998 about US$73.7 billion, 4% below 1997, while global receipts in 1998 were about US$445 billion in 1998, a 2.0% increase on 1997. The data indicate the inter-relations between economic crises, exchange rates, prices to tourists and tourism flows.