2012 tourist arrivals

One billionth tourist to arrive in 2012: UN

Tourist arrivals have increased from about 674 million in 2000 to 939 million in 2010 and 980 million in 2011, UN says.

The United Nations, which commemorated the birth of the world’s seven billionth baby last October, is predicting the arrival of the one billionth tourist later this year – perhaps in Europe, the United States, South America, or Asia.

According to the latest statistics released by the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), tourist arrivals have increased from about 674 million in 2000 to 939 million in 2010 and 980 million in 2011.

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And with growth expected to continue in 2012 – at a somewhat slower rate – international tourist arrivals are on track to reach the milestone one-billion mark in November or December this year.

Lakshman Ratnapala, emeritus president and chief executive officer of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), said that global tourism has been on a remarkable upward trend for half a century and more.

“The travel industry has shown to be uniquely resilient with an inherent capacity to overcome challenges – whatever they are, whenever they arise, and wherever they occur,” he said.

Travel is no longer a privilege as it once was, he said, but an inalienable right and a freedom of choice.

“Given this history, I see that global travel and tourism will continue to grow in 2012, albeit at a slower pace than last year,” Ratnapala said. “The prediction is this will be a historic year for global tourism, expected to top the billion arrivals mark, for the first time in history.”

‘Challenging conditions’

UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai, whose UN agency is based in Madrid, says international tourism hit new records in 2011 “despite challenging conditions”, including a spreading global economic crisis.

For a sector directly responsible for five percent of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP), six per cent of total exports, and employing one out of every 12 people in advanced and emerging economies alike, “these results are encouraging, coming as they do at a time in which we urgently need levers to stimulate growth and job creation”, he added.

The rise in tourist arrivals took place in a year characterised by a stalled global economic recovery, major political changes in the Middle East and North Africa, and natural disasters in Japan, according to the World Tourism Barometer released by UNWTO.

By region, Europe (plus six per cent) was the best performer, while by sub-region South America (plus one per cent) topped the ranking.

Among the top 10 tourist destinations, receipts were up significantly in the United States (plus 12 per cent), Spain (plus nine per cent), Hong Kong (China) (plus 25 per cent) and the UK (plus seven per cent).

Big spenders

The top spenders were led by emerging source markets: China (plus 38 per cent), Russia (plus 21 per cent), Brazil (plus 32 per cent) and India (plus 32 per cent) followed by traditional markets, with the growth in expenditure of travelers from Germany (plus four per cent) and the United States (plus five per cent) above the levels of previous years, according to UNWTO.

Despite persistent economic uncertainty, tourist arrivals to Europe reached 503 million in 2011, surpassing the half billion mark and accounting for 28 million of the 41 million additional international arrivals recorded worldwide, according to UNWTO.

“How the global tourism scene will play out depends on a number of variables such as state of the global economy, political upheavals, regional conflicts, oil and food prices, natural disasters, changing demographic trends and competitive marketing – to name only a few,” Ratnapala said.

He said travel often is about choices. Travelers, if faced with challenges of politics in specific places, will seek alternative, more stable places to visit and if faced with economic challenges on long-haul travel, they will opt for less expensive, shorter duration vacations, nearer home.

This is evident in the statistics for 2011, which show that although the Middle East lost some five million tourists due to political upheavals, Europe gained partly as a result of the shift away from the troubled Middle East.

The regional and country-specific pictures will vary depending on the circumstances, he noted.

Growth patterns

For instance, last year growth in Asia was weaker, because many East and Southeast Asian countries that are heavily dependent on the Japanese outbound traffic saw a decline in Japanese arrivals precipitated by the natural disasters there.

This year, those countries dependent on the European source markets are likely to feel the pinch of the economic woes of Europe.

“But these shortfalls can be offset by gains in outbound travel from the new markets of China and India,” Ratnapala added.

He predicted that emerging economies, primarily of Asia, and generally all the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries will lead the growth in global tourism, to be followed by the Americas, now in an economic recovery mode and trailed by the traditional source markets of Europe.

The Middle East is likely to see declines until the uncertainties of the Gulf return to stability.

“My advice to travel marketers is to invest more marketing dollars on the BRICs, because the future is there,” he said.

In the end, he said, the true success of travel marketing is not in the numbers of tourists arriving at a destination, but in the earnings that tourism generates for the national exchequer and the tourism businesses.

Meanwhile, UNWTO is urging governments to consider advancing travel facilitation, an area in which in spite of the great strides made so far there is still much room for progress.

UNWTO is advising countries to make the most of information and communication technologies in improving visa application and processing formalities, as well as the timings of visa issuance, and to analyse the possible impact of travel facilitation in increasing their tourism economies.

A version of this article was previously published on Inter Press Service.

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Where Tourist Arrivals Grew In 2012 And What To Expect In 2013

The United Nations World Tourism Organization, or Unwto, issued its latest World Tourism Barometer on Monday, looking at which regions saw the greatest growth in 2012 and what the industry can expect for 2013 and beyond.

According to Unwto figures, global international tourist arrivals grew by 4 percent (or roughly 39 million travelers) in 2012 to reach 1.035 billion, a new milestone in human travel. Emerging economies led the way with 4.1 percent growth, compared with 3.6 percent in advanced economies. Unwto expects similar growth in 2013, with numbers only forecast between 3 and 4 percent for the year, slightly below those of 2012.

Asia and the Pacific saw the largest increase at 7 percent, though the sub-regions of Southeast Asia (9 percent), as well as North Africa (9 percent) and Central/Eastern Europe (8 percent), topped the ranking.

Unwto Secretary-General Taleb Rifai noted that 2012 saw continued economic volatility around the globe, particularly in the euro zone.

“Yet international tourism managed to stay on course,” he said. “The sector has shown its capacity to adjust to the changing market conditions and, although at a slightly more modest rate, is expected to continue expanding in 2013.”

Rifai said tourism was “one of the pillars that should be supported by governments around the world” to spur economic growth.

Despite a gloomy outlook, international tourist arrivals to Europe, the most visited region in the world, were up by 3 percent, with total arrivals reaching 535 million, 17 million more than 2011. Destinations in Southern Mediterranean Europe, meanwhile, saw the lowest growth, at 2 percent.

The Asia-Pacific region was up by 15 million arrivals in 2012, reaching a total of 233 million international tourists. South Asia and Oceania saw the slowest growth at 4 percent.

The Americas welcomed 6 million additional tourists in 2012, reaching 162 million in total, with 4 percent growth. Nations in Central America led the way with a 6 percent rise, while the Caribbean and South America saw modest increases at 4 percent.

Recovering from setbacks in 2011, Africa bounced back with 6 percent growth to reach a new record of 52 million arrivals. The situation in the Middle East, however, was less rosy. After a 7 percent decline in 2011, the region saw an additional 5 percent loss of visitors, or roughly 3 million people, in 2012.

The Unwto relies on international visitor arrival data from more than 200 governments to make its projections, which include both business and leisure travelers.

Among the world’s top 10 tourist destinations, Hong Kong soared at 16 percent growth, while the United States’ relaxed visa policies and new tourism campaign from Brand USA helped it attract 10 percent more visitors than the previous year. Japan, meanwhile, recovered from its post-earthquake and tsunami losses in 2012, with international arrivals up a whopping 37 percent. India (22 percent), South Africa (22 percent), Sweden (19 percent), South Korea (19 percent), Thailand (18 percent) and Poland (16 percent) also had an outstanding year.

In terms of outbound tourism growth, China (42 percent) and Russia (31 percent) led the way, while the UK (5 percent), the U.S. (7 percent) and Canada (7 percent) held strong. Smaller markets with considerable growth in outbound travel included Venezuela (31 percent), Poland (19 percent), Philippines (17 percent), Malaysia (15 percent), and Saudi Arabia (14 percent).

Fuelled by travelers from emerging countries, Unwto expects international tourist arrivals to increase an average of 3.8 percent each year through 2020, with Asia Pacific and Africa leading the way.

Indeed, by 2015, half of the world’s international travelers will come from emerging countries, and by the end of the decade, Unwto expects the number of world travelers to reach 1.8 billion, with one out of every 10 people working either directly or indirectly for the industry.

The trend in global tourism is unmistakable: It’s rising. Fast.

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International Tourism Revenues Grew by 4% in 2012

Receipts from international tourism in destinations around the world grew by 4% in 2012 reaching US$ 1075 billion. This growth is equal to the 4% increase in international tourist arrivals which reached 1035 million in 2012. An additional US$ 219 billion was recorded in receipts from international passenger transport, bringing total exports generated by international tourism in 2012 to US$ 1.3 trillion.

According to the latest  UNWTO World Tourism Barometer , international tourism receipts hit a new record in 2012, reaching an estimated US$ 1075 billion (euro 837 billion) worldwide, up 4% in real terms, from US$ 1042 billion (euro 749 billion) in 2011.

"It is encouraging to see that the growth in international tourist arrivals was equalled by a comparable increase in spending in spite of continued economic challenges" said UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai. "Considering that tourism is a key export for many economies around the world, this result is good news as it provides foreign reserves to destinations, and contributes to job creation in tourism as well as in related economic sectors" he added.

By regions, the  Americas  (+7%) recorded the largest increase in receipts, followed by  Asia and the Pacific (+6%),  Africa  (+5%) and  Europe  (2%). Receipts in the  Middle East  were still down (-2%); yet report a steady improvement compared to the decline recorded in 2011.

In absolute values, Europe saw US$ 457 billion in tourism earnings (euro 356 bn) equivalent to 43% of the world's total tourism receipts, the largest share by region. Destinations in Asia and the Pacific (US$ 323 billion or euro 251 bn) account for 30% of international tourism receipts and the Americas (US$ 215 billion or euro 167 bn) for 20%. In the Middle East (4% share) total tourism receipts reached US$ 47 billion (euro 36 bn) and in Africa (3% share) US$ 34 billion (euro 26 bn).

Except for international tourism receipts (the travel item in the Balance of Payments), tourism also generates export earnings through international passenger transport. The latter amounted to an estimated US$ 219 billion in 2012, bringing total receipts generated by international tourism to US$ 1.3 trillion, or US$ 3.5 billion a day on average.

International tourism (travel and passenger transport) accounts for 30% of the world's exports of services and 6% of overall exports of goods and services. As a worldwide export category, tourism ranks fifth after fuels, chemicals, food and automotive products, while ranking first in many developing countries.

Healthy growth in both advanced and emerging economy destinations

The top 10 ranking of destinations by receipts remained virtually unchanged in 2012, with the United States, Spain, France, China and Italy leading, followed by Macau (China), Germany, United Kingdom, Hong Kong (China) and Australia.

A number of the more mature destinations among the world's top 10 earners showed remarkable results: the United States (+11%), France (+7%), Germany (+6%), the United Kingdom (+5%) and Hong Kong (China) (+14%). Other advanced economy destinations with growth rates of 10% or above include Sweden (+17%), Japan (+33%), the Republic of Korea (+14%) and Finland (+16%).

Among the emerging economy destinations highest receipts growth was reported by Thailand (+25%), India (+22%), Poland (+13%), South Africa (+18%), Egypt (+14%), Vietnam (+18%) and Ukraine (+13%).

Relevant links:                                                                

UNWTO World Tourism Barometer

Table 1:  International Tourism by (Sub)Region

Table 2:  International Tourism Receipts – Top 50 destinations (US$ billion)

Table 3:  Top 10 International Tourism Receipts (1995-2012)

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The UN Tourism Data Dashboard – provides statistics and insights on key indicators for inbound and outbound tourism at the global, regional and national levels. Data covers tourist arrivals, tourism share of exports and contribution to GDP, source markets, seasonality and accommodation (data on number of rooms, guest and nights)

Two special modules present data on the impact of COVID 19 on tourism as well as a Policy Tracker on Measures to Support Tourism

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• International tourist arrivals and receipts and export revenues
• International tourism expenditure and departures
• Seasonality
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• Accommodation
• Tourism GDP and Employment
• Domestic Tourism

International Tourism and COVID-19

• The pandemic generated a loss of 2.6 billion international arrivals in 2020, 2021 and 2022 combined
• Export revenues from international tourism dropped 62% in 2020 and 59% in 2021, versus 2019 (real terms) and then rebounded in 2022, remaining 34% below pre-pandemic levels.
• The total loss in export revenues from tourism amounts to USD 2.6 trillion for that three-year period.
• International tourist arrivals reached 88% of pre-pandemic levels in January-December 2023

COVID-19: Measures to Support Travel and Tourism