Which countries of the world lure the greatest number of visitors? What makes the city unique and special that attracts more tourists and where would you go if you could take an all-expense-paid trip to anywhere in the world?
The World Tourism Organization defines tourism more generally, in terms which go “beyond the common perception of tourism as being limited to holiday activity only”, as people “traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure and not less than 24 hours, business and other purposes”. It can be domestic (within the traveller’s own country) or international. International tourism has both incoming and outgoing implications on a country’s balance of payments.
The Covid-19 pandemic has been devastating for the travel industry, and almost 5 percent of the experts at the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNTWO) don’t expect international tourism to return to pre-pandemic levels until 2024 or later. “There is significant pent-up demand and we see confidence slowly returning,” UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said, pointing out the key role of vaccinations on the road to recovery. He also urged governments to “improve coordination and communication while making testing easier and more affordable” in order to facilitate a travel rebound. According to the latest World Tourism Barometer, global travel activity rebounded sharply in the third quarter of 2021, while remaining far below pre-pandemic levels.
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Having dropped by more than one billion visitors or 73 percent in 2020, international tourist arrivals declined by 85 percent between January and May 2021 when compared to the same period of 2019. According to the UNWTO, tourism destinations around the world recorded 460 million fewer international arrivals in the first five months of 2021 compared to 2019. Even compared to 2020, when COVID-19’s crippling effect on international travel became apparent in March, arrivals declined by 65 percent, as travel restrictions remained in place in large parts of the world.
International and domestic travel has become increasingly common. As a result, both leisure and business travel spending saw year-over-year growth in the five years before COVID-19. One result was an increase in hotel guests, causing significant growth in the industry. Key performance indicators such as RevPAR (revenue per available room), ADR (average daily rate), and occupancy have seen year-over-year growth over the past decade due to an influx of tourists across the globe. Meanwhile, another industry that has profited from people’s penchant for travel is the airline industry – with the revenue of the global commercial airline industry reaching 472 billion U.S. dollars in 2021 after a decline during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Once tourists arrive at their travel destination, they can choose from many sightseeing options and attractions. One famous landmark that keeps seeing record visitation figures is the Louvre in Paris, with attendance reaching 2.7 million in 2020, down from 9.6 million the previous year, making it one of the most visited museums in the world.
READ MORE: 8 MUSEUMS WHERE YOU CAN LEARN ABOUT LOCAL HISTORY
The French capital is well-known for its museums, having come top in a ranking of cities with the most museums worldwide. However, it also drew huge crowds to the gates of one of its most family-friendly attractions – Disneyland Park, Paris. However, when compared to the most-visited amusement and theme parks worldwide, attendance was less than half of that of the Magic Kingdom (Walt Disney World) in the U.S. Thanks to these and other sights, France remains top of this list of leading destinations for international tourist arrivals.
It is difficult to define the tourism industry, as unlike with other industries, there is not one clear product. It incorporates many industries, including lodging, transport, attractions, travel companies, and more. In its broadest sense, tourism is defined as when people travel and stay in places outside of their usual environment for less than one consecutive year for leisure, business, health, or other reasons. Globally, travel and tourism’s direct contribution to GDP was approximately 4.7 trillion U.S. dollars in 2020. When looking at countries that directly contributed the most to global GDP the United States’ travel and tourism industry contributed the largest sum at 1.1 trillion U.S. dollars in 2020. Meanwhile, in a ranking of the countries with the highest share of GDP from travel and tourism the city and special administrative region of Macau generated the highest share of GDP through direct travel and tourism of any economy worldwide. The tourism industry was severely impacted by the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that began in early 2020.
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