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| Friday, 4 February 2005 |
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International tourism obtains its best results in 20 years After three years of stagnant growth, international tourism experienced a spectacular rebound in 2004. According to WTO World Tourism Barometer, presented to the media at a news conference in Bangkok, Thailand, international tourist arrivals reached an all-time record of 760 million - an increase of 10 per cent over 2003. Growth was common to all regions, but was predominantly strong in Asia and the Pacific (+29pc) and in the Middle East (+21pc). Double-digit growth was also registered in the Americas (+10pc), while Africa (+7pc) and Europe (+4pc) performed below the world average, but still substantially improved their results of previous years. Year 2004 was marked by the strong rebound of Asia and the Pacific after the setbacks suffered in 2003 under the blow of SARS, by the return of the Americas to positive results and by the redistribution of overall tourism flows in Europe and in the Americas under the effects of the USD/euro exchange rate. The recovery of the world economy, and in particular of the economies of important American and European generating markets, strongly contributed to the very good results obtained in 2004. The fears of the impact of the oil prices were overall offset as the year went by and such increases were being absorbed by the dynamism of the world economy and seem to have not affected the consumers' travel confidence. "As we foresaw in October, tourism in 2004 reached a record of 760 million international tourist arrivals and the best growth rate of the last 20 years," WTO Secretary-General Francesco Frangialli said. "We are confident that the tourism sector is back on the right track after three difficult years and though still in commotion over the tragic events in Asia, the tourism sector will surely show again its extraordinary resilience and its ability to overcome difficulties by making an important contribution to the quick recovery of the affected countries". Year 2004 was definitely the year of full recovery in Asia and the Pacific as the region attained a 29 per cent growth rate, receiving an estimated volume of 154 million tourist arrivals. Following the trend already seen during the last months of 2003, most of the destinations in North-East and South-East Asia rebounded very strongly from the SARS effects, leading both subregions to end the year with a projected increase of around 30 per cent. In the Middle East tourism continues to be one of the most dynamic economic sectors. Arrivals grew by an estimated 21per cent to a total of 35 million, which makes the region the fourth most visited in the world, surpassing for the first time the volume of Africa (estimated to have received 33 million arrivals in 2004). |
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