Asia-Pacific’s leisure travel landscape is undergoing a fundamental transformation. The region is witnessing a historic surge in international visitors and cross-border spending that extends far beyond the post-pandemic recovery. With 564 million travelers projected to visit Asia-Pacific destinations by 2026, coupled with international visitor arrivals expected to reach 761.84 million across the region, the scale of opportunity has never been larger. What makes this particularly significant for suppliers is not just the volume of travelers—it’s the fundamental shift in how these travelers spend money and what they prioritize when they travel.
What makes this particularly significant is the sheer scale of spending power. The outbound travel market from Asia-Pacific is forecast to hit $2.5 trillion by 2029, with domestic travel reaching $4.3 trillion. This dual expansion—driven by both international and domestic travelers—signals one of the most significant economic opportunities of the decade for suppliers who understand the travel market and can position their products strategically.
The Scale of Asia-Pacific's Travel Boom: Beyond Numbers
Understanding the magnitude of Asia-Pacific’s travel recovery requires looking beyond simple visitor statistics. The region achieved a historic milestone in 2025 with 611.08 million international visitors, surpassing 2019 pre-pandemic levels—a breakthrough that underscores genuine consumer commitment to travel as a protected budget priority. What’s even more striking: tourism maintained sustained growth with a 10.7% increase in international visitor arrivals during the first half of 2025 alone. This isn’t just recovery; it’s a fundamental restructuring of how Asia-Pacific consumers allocate their budgets, prioritizing travel experiences even amid broader economic uncertainty.
The projected 564 million travelers by 2026 represents genuine market depth. These aren’t just day-trippers or regional short-haul visitors. Research shows that 109 million Asia-Pacific households are now taking at least one foreign trip annually—a 65% increase from just a decade earlier. This transformation reflects a maturing middle class across the region, younger demographics with different consumption patterns than their parents, and crucially, a willingness to spend significantly more per trip than they did before the pandemic.
Hotel operators across the region reflect this optimistic outlook. The latest APAC Hotel Operators’ Sentiment Survey projects gross operating profit to increase between 2% and 6% year-on-year in 2026. More tellingly, Vietnam has been identified as the regional standout for profitability growth, with a strong 6% increase forecast, while India follows with a projected 6% growth in total revenue. These aren’t marginal improvements—they signal strong underlying traveler demand and spending power.
How Travelers Are Actually Spending: The Critical Shift
The travel boom isn’t uniform across product categories. Understanding where travelers spend reveals the most valuable opportunities for suppliers. Cross-border traveler spending data shows a dramatic reorientation of priorities that directly impacts product demand.
The most striking trend: travelers spent almost 50% more at discount stores in 2024 than in 2023—the fastest growth of any major travel category. This signals value-conscious travelers who are still spending, but strategically. Simultaneously, spending at quick-service restaurants and groceries both grew faster than spending at full-service restaurants, suggesting that travelers are managing overall food costs by preparing meals at their accommodations or choosing budget-friendly dining options on a daily basis.
The key insight: travelers are protecting travel budgets, but reallocating spending toward experiences, wellness, and value-driven purchases rather than luxury goods. This creates distinct opportunities across multiple supplier categories.
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Growth Projections and Regional Leaders: The Opportunity Snapshot
Regional growth patterns reveal where supplier opportunities are most concentrated. Vietnam has emerged as the regional standout, with hotel profitability growth forecast at 6% for 2026. This reflects both strong inbound tourism and growing regional travel from neighboring countries. India follows closely with a projected 6% increase in total revenue, while Japan and South Korea—traditionally mature markets—continue to benefit from strong travel demand and constrained supply, projecting 4% profitability growth.
Importantly, the outbound travel market from Asia-Pacific itself is a massive growth engine. APAC outbound travel is projected to grow at a 7% CAGR through 2029, with intra-regional journeys expected to account for 61% of all trips by the end of 2025. This internal travel circulation within Asia creates unique supplier opportunities, as travelers move between countries seeking destination-specific products and authentic local goods.
What Travelers Are Seeking: The Product Opportunity Spectrum
Understanding what travelers actually buy reveals the breadth of supplier opportunities. Research consistently shows that modern travelers prioritize experiences over material goods, yet they’re willing to spend on functional, high-quality products that enhance those experiences.
This spending pattern plays out distinctly across categories. The shift toward discount retail and value-conscious shopping doesn’t mean travelers are cutting spending—it means they’re reallocating. The 50% surge in discount store spending reflects travelers seeking good value for functional items.
Simultaneously, spending on electronics and wellness products is gaining prominence, signaling that travelers prioritize functional utility and experience-enhancing goods over traditional luxury purchases.
Food and beverage presents a multi-layered opportunity. While travelers prepare some meals in accommodations to manage costs, they simultaneously invest in culinary tourism experiences. This creates demand for both packaged food products for self-catering and premium dining experiences at destinations—a dual opportunity for suppliers spanning convenience foods to gourmet ingredients.
Additionally, electronics are emerging as a growth category, reflecting both practical travel needs (charging devices, connectivity) and post-trip shopping at destinations. Home goods and wellness products—reflecting the broader “sanctuary economy” trend—are increasingly sought by travelers looking to recreate travel experiences at home.
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Destination Trends: Regional Demand Signals
Specific destinations are emerging as traveler magnets, each creating distinct product demand profiles. Vietnam has become a standout destination, with 7 of the top 10 fastest-growing travel corridors in Southeast Asia bound for Vietnam. The region’s reputation for value, iconic destinations, and cuisine attracts cost-conscious travelers seeking authentic experiences, creating demand for local artisan products, authentic goods, and functional travel items.
Thailand and Singapore continue to attract travelers, particularly with visa-free entry for Chinese tourists—a historically significant source market. Japan has maintained strong appeal, with 48% growth in 2024 visitors, partially driven by favorable yen exchange rates making travel more affordable. India is emerging as both a major travel destination and a significant source market for regional travel, driving demand across multiple product categories.
South Korea, on the other hand, with particular strength in Seoul and Jeju, has seen 47% year-on-year search growth, reflecting the influence of popular culture, aesthetic trends, and wellness tourism interest. These destination-specific trends create opportunities for suppliers manufacturing destination-relevant products—everything from cosmetics and wellness items influenced by Korean beauty trends to regional craft goods and travel-essential products.
The B2B Opportunity: Connecting Suppliers to Travel-Related Buyers
While consumer travel spending is vital, the real supplier opportunity lies in B2B connections with the businesses that serve travelers. Hotel operators, boutique accommodation owners, travel retailers, destination retail businesses, tour operators, and travel-related retailers are all actively sourcing products. These buyers are sophisticated, have specific quality requirements, and purchase in volumes.
The hotel industry alone is experiencing robust investment. Hotel operators’ gross operating profits are expected to rise 2-6% in 2026, indicating healthy business fundamentals and capacity for investment in furnishings, décor, wellness amenities, and guest experience products. Investment volumes continue climbing, with $13.3 billion in hotel investment projected for 2026—capital that flows into property upgrades, new openings, and product procurement.
Beyond hotels, the broader travel ecosystem creates equally significant sourcing demand. Travel retailers stocking wellness products, home goods retailers supplying alternative accommodations, and electronics distributors serving travelers’ practical needs are all seeking reliable suppliers on digital platforms. Wellness products—from fitness equipment to personal care items—are experiencing sustained growth as travelers prioritize health and recovery. Home décor and furnishings for boutique accommodations, vacation rentals, and destination retail spaces represent another major opportunity, with travelers increasingly seeking authentic, locally-sourced pieces. Electronics suppliers—from power banks to travel-specific tech—benefit from growing traveler demand for connectivity and practical gadgets. These product categories, sourced through digital B2B platforms, provide suppliers with access to buyers across the entire travel ecosystem, not just traditional hospitality.
Digital platforms have fundamentally changed how these buyers source products. Rather than attending trade shows or managing long sales cycles, travel-related retailers and accommodation operators are increasingly sourcing through online B2B platforms. This shift accelerates decision cycles, expands potential supplier pools, and makes geographic barriers less relevant. A supplier in Ho Chi Minh City can now reach accommodation owners in Bali, Bangkok, and Phuket directly, without geographic proximity or relationship history.
The challenge for many suppliers has been visibility. How do travel-related buyers know you exist if you’re not on the platforms they search? How do they compare quality and pricing without centralized information? Digital B2B platforms solve this by aggregating quality suppliers, enabling instant comparison, facilitating real-time communication, and creating transparent sourcing processes that build buyer confidence.
HKTDC.com Sourcing is your solution! Join us today to gain visibility with travel-related buyers sourcing across Asia’s fastest-growing destinations.
Positioning Products for the Travel Boom: Strategic Insights
Suppliers looking to capture travel market opportunities should consider several strategic angles.
- Understand that travelers are experience-prioritizers who allocate budgets defensively. They’re willing to spend but expect value. Products that enhance experiences, offer genuine utility, or provide authentic connection to destinations are most attractive.
- Recognize the regional nature of travel within Asia-Pacific. While long-haul travel exists, the overwhelming majority of journeys are intra-regional. This creates opportunities for suppliers in source markets (where travelers originate) as well as destination markets. A textile manufacturer in Vietnam can supply both to travelers visiting the destination and to retailers serving them.
- Note the role of wellness in travel motivation and spending. The broader “sanctuary economy” trend—where travelers seek recovery and rejuvenation through travel—creates sustained demand for wellness products, wellness-focused accommodations, and recovery-oriented services. Aging travelers increasingly prioritize health and wellness experiences, driving consistent demand for these product categories. This represents a growing, structural trend rather than a temporary fad.
- Leverage the digital shift. With 75% of travel bookings expected to be online by 2029 and digital platform adoption accelerating, suppliers who have visible, professional online presence access significantly larger buyer pools. Digital B2B platforms aren’t optional—they’re becoming the default sourcing channel for travel-related retailers and accommodation operators.
The 2026-2030 Outlook: Sustained Growth With Real Opportunities
The travel boom is not a post-pandemic aberration that will fade as the world “normalizes.” Structural factors—rising middle class, younger demographics, improved regional connectivity, visa liberalization, and changing consumer priorities—suggest sustained, long-term growth. The Asia-Pacific group travel market’s 6% CAGR through 2030, luxury leisure travel’s 8.17% CAGR, and outbound travel’s 7% annual growth all point to multi-year expansion, not cyclical recovery.
Vietnam’s projected 6% profitability growth and India’s 6% revenue growth signal that these aren’t mature, saturated markets. They’re dynamic, growing, and attracting investment and travelers at accelerating rates. For suppliers, this means market entry isn’t too late—it’s well-timed for medium-term growth capture.
Hotel operators’ continued confidence in profitability despite geopolitical uncertainty suggests robust underlying demand. When hospitality businesses forecast 2-6% profit growth while citing geopolitical risk as a concern, it signals that travel fundamentals are genuinely strong, not dependent on perfect macro conditions.
Your Strategic Moment: Capturing the Travel Supply Boom
The 564 million travelers projected for Asia-Pacific by 2026 represent one of the most significant economic opportunities of this decade. These travelers spend money across multiple categories, increasingly seek value and experiences, and drive demand through a vast supply chain of accommodation operators, retailers, and service providers. The travelers themselves represent immediate consumer demand, while the businesses that serve them represent sustained B2B opportunities.
For suppliers, the path forward is clear: understand the travel market, position products strategically for traveler and travel-business demand, and gain visibility through digital B2B platforms where buyers increasingly source. HKTDC.com Sourcing is the ideal place for suppliers to showcase travel-related, food, electronics, home, and wellness products to buyers actively sourcing across Asia’s fastest-growing travel destinations. With 564 million travelers and billions in annual spending, these product categories represent essential additions to travelers’ journeys and accommodation experiences.
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Travel Market Data, Visitor Forecasts, and Regional Trends
Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), Statista, World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), Euromonitor International, Grand View Research, Mastercard Economics Institute, Booking.com, Expedia Group, Asian Development Bank
Hotel Investment, Profitability, and Hospitality Insights
JLL Asia Pacific Hotel Investment Highlights, APAC Hotel Operators’ Sentiment Survey, Deloitte Hospitality Reports, PwC Hotel Industry Analysis, CBRE Hotels Research
Traveler Spending Behavior and Consumer Trends
Mastercard Economics Institute, NielsenIQ, GWI, Mintel, McKinsey Consumer Insights, Kantar Travel Reports, Mordor Intelligence
Digital Commerce, B2B Platforms, and E-commerce Growth
Forrester, Gartner, LinkedIn B2B Institute, Salesforce, Shopify, Martal Group, OrdersInSeconds, Ironpaper
Destination-Specific Data and Tourism Statistics
Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, Thailand Tourism Authority, Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO), Korea Tourism Organization (KTO), Singapore Tourism Board, ASEAN Secretariat
Wellness, Culinary Tourism, and Product Categories
IMARC Group, Frost & Sullivan, Grand View Research, HKTDC Research, JD.com Research Institute
