Fear having less impact on tourism
Global tourism is rebounding according to the latest figures from the World Tourism Organization (WTO), with particular growth in Asia and Eastern Europe.
For the first half of 2004 international tourist arrivals is estimated to have grown by 12% compared to the first half of last year.
The largest growth was in the Asia Pacific region were arrivals were up 37% year-on-year. In North America the figure was 12%, after three years of losses, and in Europe it was 6%. Central and Eastern Europe grew 16%, buoyed by increased no-frills traffic to the region, and the UK grew 13%.
The results were presented by WTO secretary-general Francesco Frangialli at the Monaco World Summit.
He said: “The fear factor has clearly faded away and travel confidence is back. Even though many threats remain, we see that they have far less impact on tourism than before.”
According to the WTO data, the peak month for tourism was August, when the number of worldwide international tourist arrivals topped the 90 million mark for the first time.
A statement from WTO said: “This leap is of course first of all a reaction to last year’s depressed figures due to the Iraq war, SARS and the weak economy. Nevertheless, compared to the corresponding months of the previous record year 2002, the gain is still 41 million arrivals, up 9%.”
Report by Ginny McGrath
Ginny McGrath
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