International tourism growth slows in 2019: UN

The rise in the number of international tourist arrivals slowed to 4.0 per cent in 2019, its slowest rate since 2016 due to a cooling global economy, geopolitical tensions and uncertainty regarding Brexit, the World Tourism Organisation said Monday.

The Madrid-based UN body, UNWTO, predicted global tourism will grow by 3.0-4.0 per cent this year, buoyed by major sporting and cultural events such as the Tokyo Olympics in Japan.

The number of international tourist arrivals hit 1.5 billion last year, up from 1.4 billion in 2018, the body said in a statement.

Tourist numbers grew by 6.0 per cent in 2018, 7.0 per cent in 2017 and by 4.0 per cent in 2016.

 

"The slowdown in linked to the results of the global economy, with economic growth of around 3.0 per cent," UNWTO's market intelligence chief, Sandra Carvao, told a news conference.

She said "strong uncertainty around" Britain's looming exit from the European Union, simmering geopolitical tensions and the collapse of Thomas Cook, the world's oldest travel form, had also contributed to the slowdown.

But Carvao stressed that both 2017 and 2018 had posted exceptionally high rates of tourism growth.

"What is happening is we are returning to historical levels of tourism growth," she said.

Europe and the Asia-Pacific region were the most affected by the slowdown in tourism arrivals.

Arrivals rose by 4.0 per cent in Europe in 2019, down from 6.0 per cent in 2018, while in Asia-Pacific arrivals rose by 5.0 per cent compared to 7.0 per cent in 2018 as ongoing protests in Hong Kong weighed the sector down.

Africa posted a 4.0-per cent rise in tourist arrivals, down from 9.0 per cent in 2018. The Middle East was the one bright spot as tourist arrivals in the region jumped by 8.0 per cent in 2018, up from 3.0 per cent in the previous year, due mainly to Saudi Arabia's ambitious plan to draw foreign visitors.

UNWTO expects France, Spain and the United States to once again be the three most visited countries in the world last year once it has final figures.

"We don't really expect changes in the rankings," said Carvao. In 2018, France remained the world's most visited nation with 89 million arrivals followed by Spain and the United States.