World tourist numbers exceed 1 b in 2012 - UN
SPAIN : International tourist arrivals exceeded one billion for the
first time last year, with the Asia-Pacific region posting the biggest
increase in foreign visitors, and numbers will rise further in 2013, a
UN body said on Tuesday.
The number of international tourist arrivals grew by 4.0 percent to
1.035 billion in 2012, up from 996 million in 2011, the Madrid-based
United Nations World Tourism Organisation said in an annual survey.
"2012 was a year of constant economic instability in the entire
world, especially in the euro zone. Despite this international tourism
managed to maintain its course," the body's Secretary General Taleb
Rifai told a news conference.
The organisation forecasts international tourist numbers will grow in
2013 although at a slightly lower rate of 3.0-4.0 percent. Global
tourism figures were hit hard by the 2008 global financial crisis, with
the rise in international arrivals that year slowing to 2.1 percent
after jumping 6.6 percent in the previous year.
Arrivals plunged by 3.9 percent in 2009, its worst performance in 60
years, as the outbreak of the swine flu virus contributed to
cash-strapped consumers' decision to stay home.
But international tourism arrivals bounced back the following year,
rising 6.6 percent in 2010 and by 5.0 percent in 2011 even though global
economic crisis had not yet ended. The Asia-Pacific region posted the
largest growth in visitor arrivals last year with the number of foreign
tourists up by 14 million or 6.5 percent to 233 million.
Growth in the number of foreign visitors was highest in Southeast
Asia, with the number of arrivals up by 8.7 percent over 2011. Tourist
numbers climbed 4.1 percent in emerging economies compared with a 3.6
percent rise in advanced economies.
The only region to report a decline in tourist numbers compared with
2011 was the Middle East with 2.0 percent fewer arrivals because of
political instability in popular tourist spots such as Egypt and Syria.
But the drop in the number of visitors to the region was smaller than
the decline of 7.0 posted in 2011, the UN body said.
AFP
|
