Published on : Saturday, September 1, 2018
The UNWTO Tourism Highlights 2018 edition reveals international tourist arrivals going up 6.8% last year to reach 1.3bn, which is the highest level since the 2008/2009 global economic crisis.
Europe spearheaded regional spending with receipts of $519.2bn, followed by Asia and the Pacific ($389.6bn); the Americas ($326.2bn); the Middle East ($67.7bn) and Africa ($37.3bn).
Besides the $1.3tn in tourism receipts generated at destinations, international tourism registered an additional $240bn from international passenger transport services rendered to non-residents. Total exports from the trade came to $1.6tn, or $4bn per day.
The UNWTO said that China continues to lead global outbound travel in terms of expenditure at $258bn. The Russian Federation rebounded impressively by 30% ($31bn) to climb into the top ten once again in eight place.
The UNWTO said that the rise in global outbound demand indicates general upswing in economic fortunes, particularly in Brazil and the Russian Federation after several years of decline, along with ongoing growth from India to many inbound destinations.
The recovery of countries threatened by security challenges has also been a contributing factor to this growth.
With regard to arrivals, Europe once again welcomed the highest inbound volume (670.6m) followed by Asia Pacific (323.1m); the Americas (208.7m), Africa (62.7m) and the Middle East (58.1m).
Interestingly, Africa led growth in tourism arrivals last year (+8.6%) despite accounting for a 5% share of the market, next to Europe (+8.3%) with a 51% market share.
Tags: UNWTO