Asia drives global tourism recovery
The first six months of 2010 saw international tourist arrivals grow by seven percent according to the August Interim Update of the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer.
This result confirms the recovery trend beginning in the last quarter of 2009 and is expected to continue in the second half of the year at a somewhat more moderate rate.
While growth was modest in April as a consequence of the closure of European airspace following the eruption of a volcano in Iceland, results were strong in May (+10%) and June (+8%).
Asia and the Pacific (+14%) and the Middle East (+20%) continue to lead growth in the first half of 2010 with the majority of destinations in both regions posting double-digit growth rates.
Asia in particular is experiencing a very dynamic rebound, with strong results from Sri Lanka (+49%), Japan (+36%), Vietnam (+35%), Myanmar (+35%), Hong Kong (China) (+23%), Macao (China) (+23%), Singapore (+23%), Fiji (+22%) and the Maldives (+21%).
Thailand (+14%) posted encouraging results in spite of the political unrest early this year.
As in previous occasions, such as the Asian financial and economic crisis (1997-1998), the SARS outbreak (2003), and the tsunami (2004), Asia has once again shown a strong capacity for recovery.
International tourism has been a driving force in a region – currently the second most visited region in the world – with 181 million international tourist arrivals (21% of world total) and international tourism receipts of US$ 204 billion (24% of world total) in 2009.
