Long-term trends

Over the period as a whole, the United States recorded the largest number of arrivals in hotels and similar establishments followed by China, France, Italy and Spain.

The 9/11 terrorist attacks resulted in sharp falls in arrivals in the United Kingdom, Mexico and the United States but did not noticeably affect arrivals in most other countries. Countries in central and eastern Europe have recorded strong increases in arrivals since 1990. The graph shows annual growth in arrivals of non-residents averaged over the period since 1998. Arrivals declined in Brazil, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway and Greece but grew at 6% per year or more in New Zealand, Iceland, Japan, India, Slovak Republic, Turkey and China.

Tourism 2020 Vision is the World Tourism Organization’s (UNWTO) long-term forecast and assessment of the development of tourism up to the first 20 years of the new millennium. Although the evolution of tourism in the last few years has been irregular, UNWTO maintains its long-term forecast for the moment. The underlying structural trends of the forecast are believed not to have significantly changed. Experience shows that in the short term, periods of faster growth (1995, 1996, 2000) alternate with periods of slower growth (2001 and 2002).

UNWTO’s Tourism 2020 Vision forecasts that international arrivals will reach over 1.56 billion by the year 2020. East Asia and the Pacific, South Asia, the Middle East and Africa are forecasted to record growth at rates of over 5% per year, compared with the world average of 4.1%. The more mature tourism regions, Europe and the Americas, are expected to show lower than average growth rates. Europe will maintain the highest share of world arrivals, although there will be a decline from 60% in 1995 to 46% in 2020.