Maldives Reach Target:

One billion tourists have traveled internationally in 2012

Maldives Promotion House – One billion tourists have traveled internationally in 2012 according to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the United Nations specialized agency for sustainable tourism.

This is equivalent to one in every seven people on the planet traveling the world in 2012, up from just 25 million in 1950.

In 2011, international tourist arrivals reached 990 million. With an expected growth of 3% to 4% in 2012, this figure is forecast to reach one billion for the first time by December 2012. The date of 13 December has been designated to symbolically mark the arrival of the one billionth tourist.

The number of international tourists worldwide grew by 4% between January and August 2012 compared to the same eight months of 2011 (28 million more). With a record 705 million tourists up to August 2012, UNWTO remains confident that one billion international tourists will have travelled the world by the end of the year.

UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai said “This growth is a very positive result in view of the global economic situation. We must remain cautious, however, as we have also observed some weaker months during the year, a trend that might return in the remainder of the year.”

Tourist numbers grew 5 percent in emerging economies compared with a 4 percent rise in advanced economies. UNWTO forecast overall growth of no more than 4 percent for the full year.

UNWTO numbers showed that the only region to report a decline in tourist numbers compared with the first eight months of 2011 was the Middle East with 1 percent fewer arrivals.

Countries reported their own data to the UNWTO regarding their earnings from and expenditure on international travel, varyingly covering a period between the first six and nine months of 2012.

With the data available to the UNWTO so far, spending on travel abroad rose 30 percent in China, followed by 22 percent in Poland, 15 percent in Russia, 16 percent in Argentina, 18 percent in Malaysia and 11 percent in India.

The United States, Canada, Germany and Australia reported single-digit growth in travel expenditure.

Italy and France showed a decline in spending on travel abroad, according to the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer which aims at monitoring the short-term evolution of tourism.

Earnings from tourism grew 48 percent in Japan, 26 percent in Sweden, South Korea and South Africa and 17 percent in Hong Kong.

In 2011, total earnings from international tourism receipts reached $1.2 trillion or 6 percent of the world’s exports, according to the UNWTO.