Bangkok  - Tourist arrivals to the Asia-Pacific region fell 2.8 per cent in the last quarter of 2008, with Thailand leading the plunge with a 28 per cent decline, the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) revealed Wednesday.

PATA compiles travel statistics for 37 destinations in Asia, the Pacific islands and the Americas.

The association noted a "dramatic downturn" in arrivals last quarter of 2008 in Japan, Thailand and Sri Lanka, reflecting "both the worsening global economic climate and regional/national issues."

For the fourth quarter international tourists arrivals fell 28 per cent in Thailand, 15.6 per cent in Sri Lanka, 15.5 per cent in Hawaii and Tahiti, and 12.2 per cent in Japan, PATA said.

Thailand's tourism industry suffered an unusually bad year in 2008 due to political upheavals at home, culminating in the closure of Bangkok's two international airports between November 26 to December 3, leavings hundreds of thousands of foreign tourists stranded and costing the kingdom billions of dollars in lost revenues.

However, not all markets were down in the last quarter of 2008. For instance, arrivals were up 9.1 per cent in Mexico, 37.9 per cent in Bhutan, 17.2 per cent in Indonesia, 38.
7 in New Caledonia and 39.1 per cent in Papua New Guinea, PATA said.

For the entirety of 2008, the region still reported a positive growth on 1.9 per cent, but the trend is negative for 2009.

"It's clear that we have some way to go before we can see real, uninterrupted light at the end of the tunnel," PATA's Statistics Director John Koldowski said. "The belt tightening will undoubtedly continue and the battle for market-share is now in full swing." (dpa)