International travel at a record high in 2015
Tuesday, 20 Jan, 2016
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International tourism grew 4.4% last year to a record 1.184 billion overnight trips, according to figures released by the UN World Tourism Organization.
That represented 50 million more travelers taking trips compared to 2014 and was the sixth consecutive year of above-average growth, UNWTO said.
Exchange rates fluctuation, a drop in oil prices and safety concerns in parts of the world contributed to mixed results across individual destinations, UNTWO secretary general Taleb Rifai said.
"As the current environment highlights in a particular manner the issues of safety and security, we should recall that tourism development greatly depends upon our collective capacity to promote safe, secure and seamless travel," said Rifai.
"In this respect, UNWTO urges governments to include tourism administrations in their national security planning, structures and procedures, not only to ensure that the sector’s exposure to threats is minimised but also to maximise the sector’s ability to support security."
China, which has recorded double digit growth in outbound tourism expenditure every year for the last decade, again led the way.
The report gave compelling evidence of how fluctuating currencies can shift the travel landscape.
The strong US and UK currencies helped fuel growth in international travel at 9% an 6% respectively, while travel has been severely impacted in the once dynamic markets of Russia and Brazil following continued currency exchange weakness.
TravelMole Editorial Team
Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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