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Tag: international tourist arrivals

  • Trinidad and Tobago joins UNWTO

    Trinidad and Tobago has become UNWTO’s 156th Member State because the country rejoins the Organization after 35 years. The announcement was made by the Secretary General, Taleb Rifai, on the opening of the 55th Meeting of the UNWTO Commission for the Americas in San Jose, Costa Rica.

    “We are more than happy to welcome Trinidad and Tobago back into the Organization, a rustic which was as a matter of fact a founding member of UNWTO because it pertained to the International Union of Official Travel ‎Organizations (IUOTO), the predecessor of UNWTO,” said Mr. Rifai.

    “Trinidad and Tobago has placed tourism as a concern within its technique to diversify the national economy and we glance forward to working with the tourism sector within the country to realize this objective”, he added.

    Trinidad and Tobago is a crucial tourism player inside the Caribbean, a region where tourism is determined to continue expanding. In keeping with UNWTO’s long-term forecast, Tourism Towards 2030, by the year 2030 international tourist arrivals to the Caribbean will reach 30 million, up from 21 million in 2012.

    The 55th Meeting of the UNWTO Commission for the Americas, held in San Jose, Costa Rica, gathers the Members of the Organization within the region to discuss the most recent regional tourism trends, examine the programme of labor of UNWTO within the Americas for the period 2014-2015 and elect the candidate country to host World Tourism Day 2014. The Commission meeting would be complemented by a global Seminar on Tourism and New Technologies, looking into topics akin to mobile marketing, social media or the role on technology in travel facilitation.

  • International tourism receipts grew by 4% in 2012

    Receipts from international tourism in destinations around the globe grew by 4% in 2012 reaching US$ 1075 billion. This growth is the same as the 4% increase in international tourist arrivals which reached 1035 million in 2012. An extra US$ 219 billion was recorded in receipts from international passenger transport, bringing total exports generated by international tourism in 2012 to US$ 1.3 trillion.

    According to the most recent UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, international tourism receipts hit a brand new record in 2012, reaching an estimated US$ 1075 billion (euro 837 billion) worldwide, up 4% in real terms, from US$ 1042 billion (euro 749 billion) in 2011.

    “It is encouraging to look that the expansion in international tourist arrivals was equalled by a comparable increase in spending regardless of continued economic challenges” said UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai. “Considering that tourism is a key export for lots of economies around the globe, this result’s excellent news because it provides foreign reserves to destinations, and contributes to job creation in tourism in addition to in related economic sectors” he added.

    By regions, the Americas (+7%) recorded the most important increase in receipts, followed by Asia and the Pacific (+6%), Africa (+5%) and Europe (2%). Receipts inside the Middle East were still down (-2%); yet report a gentle improvement when compared with the decline recorded in 2011.

    In absolute values, Europe saw US$ 457 billion in tourism earnings (euro 356 bn) comparable to 43% of the world’s total tourism receipts, the biggest share by region. Destinations in Asia and the Pacific (US$ 323 billion or euro 251 bn) account for 30% of international tourism receipts and the Americas (US$ 215 billion or euro 167 bn) for 20%. Within the Middle East (4% share) total tourism receipts reached US$ 47 billion (euro 36 bn) and in Africa (3% share) US$ 34 billion (euro 26 bn).

    Except for international tourism receipts (the travel item within the Balance of Payments), tourism also generates export earnings through international passenger transport. The latter amounted to an estimated US$ 219 billion in 2012, bringing total receipts generated by international tourism to US$ 1.3 trillion, or US$ 3.5 billion an afternoon on average.

    International tourism (travel and passenger transport) accounts for 30% of the world’s exports of services and six% of overall exports of products and services. As a world export category, tourism ranks fifth after fuels, chemicals, food and automotive products, while ranking first in lots of developing countries.

    Healthy growth in both advanced and emerging economy destinations

    The top 10 ranking of destinations by receipts remained virtually unchanged in 2012, with america, Spain, France, China and Italy leading, followed by Macau (China), Germany, Uk, Hong Kong (China) and Australia.

    A choice of the more mature destinations a number of the world’s top 10 earners showed remarkable results: the us (+11%), France (+7%), Germany (+6%), the uk (+5%) and Hong Kong (China) (+14%). Other advanced economy destinations with growth rates of 10% or above include Sweden (+17%), Japan (+33%), the Republic of Korea (+14%) and Finland (+16%).

    Among the emerging economy destinations highest receipts growth was reported by Thailand (+25%), India (+22%), Poland (+13%), South Africa (+18%), Egypt (+14%), Vietnam (+18%) and Ukraine (+13%).

  • United Arab Emirates joins rejoins United Nations World Tourism Organisation

    UNWTO secretary general, Taleb Rifai, has announced the United Arab Emirates has rejoined the organisation 26 years after leaving.

    “The Middle East is without doubt one of the fastest growing tourism regions on the earth regardless of facing countless challenges; much of this dynamism have been led by the strong political commitment awarded to tourism within the region and the vision that tourism is a key pillar of development within the Middle East of which the UAE is an ideal example,” said Rifai. 

    “The UAE play a central role not just within the development of tourism within the region but additionally in linking the center East with other regions and we think that by working together we are going to enhance tourism within and to the Emirates in addition to increase regional cooperation,” he added.

    The UAE and UNWTO will work on several initiatives including the measurement of the commercial impact of tourism, statistics and human resources development.

    The Middle East is among the fastest growing tourism regions on the earth.

    Between 1980 and 2010, international tourist arrivals within the Middle East rose from 7.1 million to 60.9 million, an ordinary annual increase of seven.4 per cent compared with an international average of four.2 per cent.

    According to UNWTO’s long-term forecast, Tourism Towards 2030, this growth is decided to continue; in 2030 arrivals to the center East are expected to succeed in 149 million, a normal annual increase of four.6 per cent compared with a worldwide average of three.3 per cent.

  • WTTC president Scowsill requires British Schengen entrance

    The UK should adopt the Schengen System to make sure it stops missing out on vital tourists, in accordance with World Travel & Tourism Council president David Scowsill.

    The comments come as prime minister David Cameron promised to loosen visa bureaucracy for visitors from India.

    Scowsill explained: “It is sweet to listen to David Cameron is vowing to sit back visa rules to permit more Indians to travel to Britain for work and study.

    “Anything which permits people to travel more easily can only be a terrific thing, socially and economically, for the united kingdom.

    “But it really is only 1 small step.

    “The restrictive visa policies in place inside the UK are making the rustic uncompetitive and the united kingdom government now should loosen visa bureaucracy for other emerging markets like China.”

    Travel generates 2.3 million jobs and contributes over $100 billion to the united kingdom economy annually and reforms in visa facilitation have the aptitude to create many additional jobs within the UK, in accordance with the WTTC.

    “China’s economy is growing faster than some other,” continued Scowsill.

    “Yet, the united kingdom is currently losing out on thousands of Chinese tourists to our nearby neighbours because Chinese tourists face higher fees and feature to finish an extended application form than in the event that they wish to visit most other countries in Europe.

    “Chinese outbound travellers totalled 84 million last year and the united kingdom receives just a small fraction of them

    “It’s time for Britain to become component to the Schengen system that gives Chinese visitors the possibility to go to 26 countries in Europe on a single visa.”

    Research by the WTTC reveals visa facilitation has historically increased international tourist arrivals of affected markets by five to twenty-five per cent, following the implementation of policy changes.

    “Cameron’s promise to loosen visa bureaucracy in India is all well and good, but when he really desires to make a difference to Britain’s economy and create jobs, he must fundamentally reform visa policies for booming economies like China too,” concluded Scowsill.