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International Tourism Up 7 Percent in the First Half of 2010
September 10, 2010
Despite a weak spring that was made difficult by the closure of European airspace following Iceland's volcanic eruption, international tourist arrivals grew by an estimated 7 percent year-over-year during the first half of 2010, according to the United Nations' World Tourism Council (UNWTO), which last week released the August Interim Update of the UNWTO Business Barometer, its tri-annual market analysis of the global tourism industry.
While growth was modest in April because of the situation in Europe, results were strong in May and June — when international tourist arrivals grew by 10 percent and 8 percent, respectively — and steady in July, according to UNWTO. Growth was strongest in Asia (14 percent) and the Middle East (20 percent), it said, and weakest in the Americas (7 percent), Europe (2 percent) and Africa (7 percent), although no regions experienced declines.
"This result confirms the recovery trend beginning in the last quarter of 2009 and is expected to continue in the second half of the year at a somewhat more moderate rate," read a UNWTO statement.
Overall, international tourist arrivals totaled 421 million during the first six months of 2010. Although that was up 7 percent over 2009, it was still 2 percent below that of 2008, when there were a record 428 million arrivals in the same period.
"Although we are witnessing a clear recovery in international tourism, we must remain cautious," said UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai. "In many advanced economies, namely in the USA and in some major European markets, economic recovery has still to consolidate."
According to Rifai, travel and transportation taxes are among the greatest tourism industry challenges, and are most likely to slow or stunt future economic growth. "While we fully understand the need to balance public accounts," he continued, "one-sided decisions on taxation risk adversely impacting a sector with a proven track record for job creation and economic growth, as one of the major generators of exports earnings and income sources for developing countries, which are crucial to a stable economic recovery."
One of the tourism industry's greatest opportunities, meanwhile, is domestic travel, according to UNWTO Executive Director Márcio Favilla. "With consumers tending to travel closer to home in times of downturns, domestic tourism has been experiencing significant growth," he said. "Coupled with regional tourism, domestic tourism can thus serve as an important driver of development and growth, in particular during times of economic uncertainty."
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