M1nd-set Owner and CEO Peter Mohn.

Latest traffic data by Swiss research m1nd-set shows robust international passenger growth in Asia Pacific over the past 12 months.

The report, which draws on traffic data from m1nd-set’s Business 1ntelligence Service (B1S) tool, reveals outbound traffic across the region rose +9% in the 12 months up to March 2018 to reach 460m departures.

This is just below a third of global international traffic. The region ranks second in terms of growth behind Europe, which saw a +9.5% increase over the past 12 months.

South East Asia enjoyed the most dynamic growth among all sub-regions, with just under 13% growth, accounting for one third of the entire region’s international traffic.

BUOYANT GROWTH

South Asia also showed buoyant growth at just under +10%. The largest sub-region in Asia Pacific, North East Asia, which accounts for just under half of all international traffic from the region, experienced less dynamic growth at +7%.

Kuala Lumpur was the fastest growing airport among the top-20 airports in the region, with passenger numbers increasing +16% over the last 12 months until March 2018.

Osaka-Kansai and Tokyo Haneda also showed double-digit growth rates. The other top-five airports in the region for passenger growth were Manila and Bangkok, which both follow closely behind with +9% growth between April 2017 and March 2018.

Hong Kong, Singapore and Seoul will again rank among the top airports for international departures in 2018, surpassing the 30m barrier. Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur follow in the ranking with 24 and 23m respectively.

Kuala Lumpur was the fastest growing airport among the top-20 airports in the region.

Looking at traffic by nationality, Singaporeans and South Koreans lead the field with the most dynamic increase in outbound traffic at around +19%. Malaysians and Philippine travellers also saw double-digit growth over the last 12 months, at just over 11%. The least dynamic growth by nationality was seen in China at less than +5% and Hong Kong, with less than +2%.

B1S Director at m1nd-set Pablo Saez commented: “The region experienced a significant boost in the number of international travellers in the region during the 2018 Chinese New Year celebrations, taking outbound traffic to unprecedented levels.

“Traffic during the last three months this year increased by over +9% compared to the same period in 2017.

“Interestingly, outbound traffic in the region in January this year reached its highest peak to date with 41m passengers. We expect to continue to see strong growth rates, as this coming August, our short term forecasts show the number of International departures in the region is set to surpass 43m for the first time.

“The next 12 month forecast for the region is less dynamic but given the current short term trends, we expect this to change.”

Malaysians and Philippine travellers saw double-digit growth over the last 12 months.