International tourism demand continued to be robust between January and April 2015 with tourist arrivals increasing 4% worldwide, according to the latest UNWTO world tourism barometer. Almost all regions enjoyed strong growth.
Destinations worldwide received some 332 million international tourists (overnight visitors) between January and April 2015, 14 million more than the same period of last year, corresponding to an increase of 4%.
This result follows an increase of 4.3% in 2014 and consolidates the upward trend of international tourism in recent years (+4.5% international tourist arrivals a year on average since 2010), Daily Industry reported.
By region, the Americas (+6%) led growth, followed by Europe, Asia and the Pacific and the Middle East, all recording 4% to 5% more arrivals. By sub-region, Oceania and South America boasted the strongest increase (both +8%), followed by the Caribbean and Central and Eastern Europe (both +7%), the latter rebounding from last year’s decline.
In Africa, demand weakened in 2014 after years of solid growth, affected mainly by the Ebola outbreak among other challenges. Limited data currently available for January-April 2015 points to a 6% decline, as African destinations struggle to recover from the misperceptions affecting the continent.
“It is encouraging to see the tourism sector consolidating its excellent results despite security concerns and unrest in many parts of our world,” said UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai. “This underscores that tourism is a surprisingly resilient economic sector, which increasingly contributes to development in many countries.”
Rifai noted that for national governments, it is a reminder that tourism can be part of the solution to foster socioeconomic development and job creation.
Close to 500 million tourists are estimated to travel abroad between May and August 2015, the Northern Hemisphere holiday peak season, a total that accounts for some 41% of all international tourist arrivals registered in a year.
According to the latest results of the UNWTO Tourism Confidence Index, prospects for this period continue to be bullish and are the highest for this period since the pre-crisis year 2007. The sentiment is positive among all regions and areas of activity.
Business intelligence tool ForwardKeys also shows healthy growth in international air travel reservations for May-August 2015. Overall bookings are up 5%, thanks to strong demand for domestic air travel (+7%) and continued growth in international travel (+4%). By region, air reservations increased most in Asia and the Pacific, the Americas and Europe, while reservations to and from Africa and the Middle East are weaker.
According to the forecast issued by UNWTO in January this year, international tourist arrivals are expected to increase by 3% to 4% in 2015, in line with UNWTO’s long-term forecast of 3.8% a year during 2010-20.
