Asian countries have reported rising arrival figures and unveiled ambitious long-term expansion plans at ITB.

Thailand‚ Indonesia and Sri Lanka all said recovery had replaced recession as they unveiled new visitor targets.

“Early indications for 2010 are very good‚” said Tourism Malaysia deputy director-general Azizan Noordin.

 “We have increased our visitor target this year to 24 million from more than 23.5 million in 2009 and we do not think this will be difficult to achieve.”

The Tourism Authority of Thailand has set itself the target of attracting another one million visitors this year, taking the total to 15 million. 

“It is quite an aggressive goal‚” said Tanes Petsuwan, TAT’s Europe, Middle East and Africa director. “But we are confident of hitting the target and we expect about 20% of the projected increase to come from Europe.”

Indonesia is also confident that it will reap the benefits of its improving image. 

The ministry of tourism’s international promotion director, I Gde Pitana, said the image was being helped by the country’s efforts to combat terrorism and also a visit by US president Barack Obama due later this month.

National airline Garuda Indonesia will re-introduce flights to Europe in June, with the restoration of a service to Amsterdam. As a result, Pitana hopes this year will bring in one million European tourists, up from last year’s figure of 690‚000.