Already one billion tourists in 2016

Through the first nine months of 2016 there were almost one billion tourist throughout the world.. This is an increase of 34 million when compared to last year, according to data made available by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

The demand for tourism remained strong though the first nine months of the year, even though growth is happening at a slower pace. Even though some destinations have quite good results, others have been affected by negative events, both within the country itself, and the region.

“No destination is immune from risks. It is necessary to increase cooperation in the way we react and avoid these risks, namely in the areas of safety and security, and it is imperative that tourism and tourists become an integral part of security and safety planning”, said Taleb Rifai, the UNWTO general secretary.

H e added that “tourism is one of the most resilient and faster growing activities, but is also very sensitive to risks, both real and perceived”.

Tourism growth has been led by the Asia/Pacific region (9 percent). In Europe, the continent in which tourism has more weight, both as source and as destination, growth has been much slower, in the order of 2 percent. Increases of over 10 percent in countries like Portugal, Spain, Hungary and Ireland have been offset by poor results in France, Belgium and Turkey.

Tourism spending is growing in the US (+9 percent), Germany (+5 percent), the UK (+10 percent) and France (+3 percent). In Russia it fell by 38 percent. Other eight countries have increased their weight in terms of tourism sources: Egypt, Argentina, Spain, Thailand, the Ukraine, Ireland and Norway have seen increases of over 10 percent.

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