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India seems to be getting on the global tourism map. The international arrivals in Asia Pacific increased by five per cent, consolidating the region’s growth trend of recent years and the best results came from South Asia (+8 per cent), led by India (+7 per cent), said a report from UNWTO.
Between January and October 2014, the volume of international tourists (overnight visitors) reached 978 million, 45 million more than in the same period of 2013. With an increase of 4.7 per cent, international tourism continues to grow well above the long-term trend projected by UNWTO for the period 2010-2020 (+3.8 per cent), and is set to end the year at over 1.1 billion.
“In view of this trend, international tourism is set to end 2014 with record numbers”, said UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai. “These are remarkable results considering that different parts of the world continue to face significant geopolitical and health challenges, while the global economic recovery remains rather fragile and uneven”, he added.
By region, the strongest growth was registered in the Americas (+8 per cent), followed by Asia and the Pacific (+5 per cent) and Europe (+4 per cent). By subregion, North America (+9 per cent) and South Asia (+8 per cent) were the star performers, as well as Southern and Mediterranean Europe, North-East Asia and Northern Europe (all +7 per cent).
Other than South Asia and India, other regions that did well in APAC was North-East Asia (+7 per cent) where major destinations such as Japan and the Republic of Korea registered double-digit growth. Arrivals in Oceania grew by 6 per cent owing mostly to the increase of arrivals in Australia and New Zealand. In South-East Asia (+2 per cent), growth slowed down compared to 2012 and 2013 as a result of the decline in arrivals registered in Thailand.
Europe, the most visited region in the world, posted a four per cent increase in international tourist arrivals through October, with strong results in Northern Europe and in Southern Mediterranean Europe (both +7 per cent), where established destinations such as Greece, Portugal, Spain and Malta recorded robust growth. International tourism grew at a more modest pace in Western Europe (+2 per cent) and was stagnant in Central and Eastern Europe (0%), in stark contrast with the last three years, during which arrivals grew at an average of 8 per cent a year.
International tourist arrivals in the Middle East are estimated to be up by four per cent (in the first ten months of 2014), rebounding on the declines registered since 2011. All destinations in the region with data available report positive growth, with Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia all substantially improving their performance as compared to 2013.
Africa’s international tourist numbers grew by 3 per cent (through October) with North Africa consolidating its recovery (+2 per cent). Subsaharan Africa’s arrivals were up by three per cent despite the challenges of the Ebola Disease Outbreak in a few West African countries. Data for Africa and the Middle East, nonetheless, should be read with caution as it is based on limited and volatile data for these regions.
