Organized by UN Tourism and the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) in collaboration with the Guilin Municipal People's Government and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the Forum welcomed over 230 participants from 30 countries, showcasing the potential of this annual regional event to become an international platform to learn from the latest global tourism trends and outlook.
Asia-Pacific destinations post strong numbers
UN Tourism set the scene by presenting its latest data on tourism trends, destinations and source markets from its World Tourism Barometer. The year 2024 saw international tourism achieve full recovery of pre-pandemic levels and projections for 2025 point to continued growth.
Following a period of rapid growth, Asia and the Pacific suffered the deepest impact on its tourism industry due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2025, the region's recovery for international tourism arrivals is catching up with the rest of the world thanks to relaxed visa policies and improved air connectivity. Asia and the Pacific exceeded the world average in the first half of 2025, with an 11% increase in international tourist arrivals over the same period in 2024, though still 8% below 2019 levels. North-East Asia led the recovery in the region with 20% tourism growth in January-June 2025 (compared with 2024), hinting at the important influence of China as the world's largest tourism source market.
For its 19th edition, the Forum focused on the power of data to build a smart and sustainable tourism ecosystem, and the possible synergies across tourisms sectors to bring that ecosystem to life. The technical sessions brought together governmental representatives and tourism industry experts from Australia, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Saudi Arabia, Slovenia, Spain, Republic of Korea and Vietnam to explore governance and policies backed by innovative data and intelligence systems, as well as the role of awareness raising, collaboration and engagement with all relevant stakeholders at the local and governmental level.
The importance of capitalisation on young talent educated on the importance of data and research was presented by renowned Chinese academia and industry representatives, while lessons for the MICE sector from China, Greece and the Republic of Korea highlighted untapped opportunities in investing in market intelligence practices to identify the most suitable innovative technological resources and potential cross-border partnerships.
The concept of Smart Destinations and Platforms were explored by Saudi Arabia, Republic of Korea and Spain, offering a unique gateway to assess opportunities and challenges of the complex processes that led these destinations to embrace digitalization for enhanced visitor experience, tackle pressing challenges, reinforce collaboration among tourism stakeholders and contribute to the well-being of local communities. The Forum was further enriched by keynote speeches from Fliggy and TUI, respectively UN Tourism partner and Affiliate Member, who provided more insights from their own company's data on European markets to Asia and the Pacific, and on Chinese tourism trends and the rise of digitalisation in the Chinese tourism sector.
Next year, UN Tourism, PATA, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the Guilin Municipal People's Government will be collaborating for the 20th edition of the Forum.
