International Tourism Overview – World Tourism

WORLD TOURISM OVERVIEW

After a three-year period of stagnation beginning in 2000, international tourism has experienced spectacular growth in the past few years, a boom that is expected to continue through the remainder of the decade. According to preliminary findings presented by the World Tourism Organization (WTO) in January 2007, international tourist arrivals reached an all-time record of 842 million in 2006--an increase of 4.5 percent over 2005.

These statistics demonstrate that despite all the downside risks facing global tourism at the beginning of 2006--in particular, terrorism, health fears related to avian flu, and high oil prices--tourism, supported by a long period of sustained economic expansion, enjoyed another year of impressive growth, above the long-term forecast rate of 4.1 percent. Tourism growth occurred in all world regions, but was strongest in Africa (+8.1%) and the Asia-Pacific region (+7.6%). However, growth in perennially strong tourist markets like the Americas (+2.1%) and Europe (+3.9%) slowed down somewhat, registering slightly below the world average. Nevertheless, the continued strength of the global economy, and in particular the economies of emerging markets such as China and India, contributed significantly to the solid performance of world tourism in 2006.