International tourism arrivals are expected to climb again this year, following the record-breaking one billion global tourists registered in 2012.
According to the latest figures from the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, international arrivals increased 4% in 2012 to reach 1.035 billion. And this rate of growth is forecast to continue in 2013, with global tourist numbers expected to climb 3-4% this year. This would potentially add an extra 41.4m annual tourists across the globe – equivalent to the entire population of Argentina travelling abroad.
This rate of growth is largely in line with the UNWTO’s long-term growth forecast, which has predicted an average increase of 3.8% per year between 2010 and 2020. The global distribution of these new tourists however, will shift. By region, prospects for 2013 are stronger for Asia and the Pacific (+5-6%) and Africa (+4-6%), than in the Americas (+3-4%), Europe (+2-3%) and the Middle East (0-5%).
This follows a similar trend experienced in 2012. Last year, tourism growth was stronger in emerging economies (+4.1%) than in the developed world (+3.6%). International tourist arrivals to Europe, the most visited region in the world, increased 3% to 535m, but this was driven by the emerging destinations of Central and Eastern Europe, which increased 8%. More established destinations in Western Europe (+3%) and Southern Mediterranean Europe (+2%) saw slower growth rates.
Asia and the Pacific (+7% to 233m) was the best performing region, led by Southeast Asia (+9%), Northeast Asia (+6%), South Asia (+4%) and Oceania (+4%). The Americas (+4% to 162m) was driven by Central America (+6%), while South America (4%), the Caribbean (+4%) and North America (+3%) continued to grow steadily.
Africa recovered well from the North African unrest of 2011. Arrivals climbed 6% to reach a new record of 52m. The Middle East however, continued to decline, falling 5% to 3m, following a 7% drop in 2011.
In terms of tourism receipts, it is clear to see where the wealth is being generated. The emerging markets of China (+42%) and Russia (+31%) saw huge growth in terms of outbound spending power, while emerging Asian powers such as the Philippines (+17%), Malaysia (+15%) and Indonesia (+10%) also opened their wallets. Encouragingly, outbound spending from traditional visitor source markets such as the USA (+7%), UK (+5%) and Germany (+3%) also increased.
