The table illustrates the number of international travellers, while the line graph depicts the tourism revenue of four different countries in East Asia between 2000 and 2014.
Overall, all four nations experienced an upward trend in both visitor numbers and tourism income over the 14-year period. Thailand consistently led in tourist arrivals by the end of the period, while Thailand and Singapore emerged as the top earners in tourism revenue
In 2000, Thailand started with 9.5 million visitors in 2000, a figure that climbed steadily to peak at 24.8 million in 2014, making it the most visited destination. South Korea experienced 5.3 million visitors in 2000; this number rose to 6 million in 2005 and 8.8 million in 2010. A similar trend was followed by Japan, which witnessed only 4.8 million tourists in 2000, but this figure climbed to reach 13.4 million in 2014.
In terms of tourism income, Japan generated approximately below 5 billion USD in 2000, which was the lowest figure compared to the other countries. However, this figure inclined and overtook that of South Korea at around 5 billion USD in 2005. During the same period, Singapore and Thailand produced around 6 billion USD and 8 billion USD respectively. Both of these figures rose significantly, eventually reaching above 20 billion USD and 25 billion USD respectively.
