Happy travel days: here again?
The global travel crisis is over and there will be record numbers of international trips this year, predicts an extensive World Travel Trends Report compiled by 50 tourism experts and researchers.
There should also be a boom in emerging markets and there’s a good outlook for overall growth next year, said the report, organized by IPK International and sponsored by ITB Berlin.
“World tourism is recovering strongly in 2010 from the recession and is firmly back on
the growth path. A new record figure for international trips will be set this year, while
spending is recovering well from a heavy slump last year,” the report said.
"The world’s international travel industry is back and now even more dynamic, and this year has underlined its role as one of the mainstays of the global economy," said Rolf Freitag, president of tourism consultancy IPK International and founder of IPK’s World Travel Monitor
Another major finding: Growth is being driven by emerging markets such as Asia and South America while mature markets are seeing low growth.
World travel has bounced back strongly in 2010 from the downturn of 2009 and looks
set to return to the growth path in 2011
International tourism will already hit a new all-time high this year and is heading for further growth in the 3-5 percent range in 2011, according to experts.
“The main drivers will be the improving world economy and low fares from budget airlines while safety and environmental concerns are not expected to impact significantly,” the report found.
Key trends for 2010:
—General: more trips but shorter length of stay and careful spending
—Europe: low growth outbound & inbound
—North America: low growth outbound; high single-digit inbound
—Asia: double-digit growth outbound; high single-digit inbound
—South America: double-digit growth outbound; high single-digit inbound
One cautionary note:
The report’s predictions were based on the world macroeconomic situation as of early November 2010.
“Subsequent developments may impact on the outlook,” the report said ominously, meaning even to casual readers that terrorism or major world unexpected catastrophes could mar the optimistic outlook.
By David Wilkening
David
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