In 2007, the United Nations World Trade Organization (UNWTO) World Tourism Barometer showed growth in the international tourism arrivals. It is expected that this trend will continue until this 2008 despite deteriorating economic climate.
For one, despite tensions and threats in the Middle East, the region totaled 46 million international tourist arrivals. The region is emerging as a strong destination with visitor numbers climbing much faster than the world total, with Saudi Arabia and Egypt among the leading destinations in 2007. This 2008, the Middle East is among those with consistently growing tourism industry with the Asia-Pacific region. Growth in the region is due to the increasing intra-regional traffic brought about by the increase of the disposable income from rising oil prices.
Many countries have reported double-digit growth rates in the first up to the second quarter of 2008. Many of these countries are in the Asia and Pacific Region. These countries were China, Japan, Republic of Korea, Macao (China), Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Fiji, India, Nepal, the United States of America, Cuba, Jamaica, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Panama, Chile, Peru and Uruguay.
For 2008, the Asia-Pacific region leads the growth and will continue its lead in the international tourism. With the Summer Olympics set in Beijing, China the number of tourist in the country will surely reach a record-high.
On the other side of the globe, Africa is said to maintain its good performance with South Africa to greatly benefit the 2010 Fifa World Cup. While Latin America is expected to continue increase in tourist arrival due to improving economic situation across the region.
Data showed that, mature markets like Europe remain as the leading destinations in the world. In 2007, Europe received about 19 million of tourist arrival. it was, however, observed that growth in the European region is modest compared than the rest. There were countries in Europe though that were able to post double-digit growth like Sweden, Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Israel, Malta, Montenegro and Turkey.
Due to financial crisis in the United States, growth is expected to slow down. With the oil price crisis and dollar depreciation, outbound travel of Americans are expected to decrease. The UNWTO, however, found a strong inbound travel to the United States which contributed to the growth seen in the North American region.
The oil crisis and economic deterioration in various countries have reduced consumer confidence and set pressure on spending and travel budgets of individuals and families. This situation though will not halt the expected growth for the tourism industry. This is based on worldwide tourism statics gathered by the organization. In, fact, the international tourist arrivals grew around 5% in the first quarter (January – April) of 2008 compared to the first quarter of the previous year.