Travel growth across Asia Pacific has become more measured compared to the pre-pandemic boom, with trade tensions, higher interest rates, and a slowing China tempering momentum.
Yet, significant opportunities remain across the region as new consumer segments with growing spending power emerge, said Simon Baptist, Visa’s APAC Principal Economist during CruiseWorld Asia in Singapore.
Diverging markets
Visa’s August 2025 data showed a surge in consumer spending for Indonesia and Australia markets, whilst China and trade-exposed economies, such as Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam, lagged behind.
Outbound Chinese travel has yet to recover, with visa accessibility a key factor influencing destinations.
Despite pressure on middle classes, weak job creation in some markets, and widening income inequality, travel demand remains resilient, particularly in value-driven corridors such as Indonesia–Vietnam and India–Thailand.
Cruise spending leads the way
Baptist highlighted travel as the top “big ticket” purchase in Asia Pacific, outpacing housing and cars, Baptist noted. “People in this region, they love to travel, and they’ve done so a lot after Covid…even though Chinese and Japanese travellers have not returned to their pre-Covid numbers, everybody else is exceeding it,” he said.
Notably, cruise travel spending is outpacing general travel in most markets – particularly in Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong, and China – though Australia and Malaysia trail behind.
Affluence drives the next wave
At the same time, shifting traveller base includes new outbound travellers who are looking for their first overseas travel experiences, particularly from India and Indonesia.
The affluent segment is expanding fastest, where the number of affluent households to be added between 2025-2030 in Asia Pacific will be the highest in the world, with a growth rate of 8% growth annually.
Affluent travellers take significantly more trips than the mass market – 2.5 times more in Japan and 50% more in China and India – underscoring their importance to premium travel offerings.
Who are the biggest spenders?
Australians and Chinese spending about US$3,000 per trip, making them the biggest spenders, whilst the rest in the region spend about US$1,000-1,500 per trip.
Indonesians and Australians like spending on hotels, whilst mainland Chinese enjoy spending on recreation and culture, showing a shift away from goods and retail and into services and experiences. Those from India and New Zealand enjoy retail experiences.
At the same time, Baptist added that markets offering unique, one-off events at a particular time of the Year which consumers cannot get elsewhere, have an advantage. These markets are outperforming markets with a more generalised tourism offering.