26 June 2008

Tourism booming in emerging markets

The United Nations World Tourism Organisation says tourism in emerging markets has grown by between 6-8% over the past decade Ã¢â¬' twice the increase in industralised countries.

In a speech to the UK Tourism Society conference, assistant secretary-general Geoffrey Lipman said that tourism contributes to up to 70% of the poorest countriesÃ¢â¬â¢ incomes and with international travellers projected to almost double by 2020, was set to boom in places like China, India, South East Asia, Eastern Europe and the Gulf States. Latin America and Africa are also set to benefit hugely.

The WTO said many of these are becoming important outbound markets thanks to a burgeoning middle class and liberalised travel policies. It cites the case of the Chinese, with tourists from the country spending US$30 billion abroad in 2007.

More domestic travel in emerging markets also indicated strong potential for the future. The WTO says that in 2006 China registered 1.6 billion trips and India 461 million.

Lipman said: Ã¢â¬ÅâœIt is fair to assume that this growth scenario will suffer from the economic downturn and more than fair to say that massive prolonged increases in fuel price, with few short term options (at least for airlines), as well as other Ã¢â¬Ëœmega crisesÃ¢â¬â¢ will have a fundamental depressant effect. But the numbers of potential travellers are so huge and the logic of targeting tourism for development so pervasive that the long term growth prospects will remain substantial by any measureÃ¢â¬~.

By Dinah Hatch