Madrid. in Spite of security fears, the number of tourists worldwide increased by four percent in 2016, thanks to the push of Asia and a good performance of America, announced Tuesday the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
a Few thousand 235 million tourists traveled the world in 2016, 46 million more than in the previous year, marking the seventh consecutive year of growth since 2009, after the global financial crisis, according to figures released by the agency.
The american continent, “consolidated the strong results registered in the previous two years”, for an increase in the number of tourists 4.3 percent, above the global average, received the report of the UNWTO, based in Madrid.
With a total of 201 million tourists received in 2016 (8 million more in 2015), the continent captured a 16.3 per cent of the total of international travelers.
The best record we had in South America, with an increase of 6.3 per cent, followed by Central America (+6.1 per cent), the Caribbean (4.3%) and North America (3.6%), although this last one focused far and away the majority of the tourists (132.2 million).
At a general level, the secretary general of the UNWTO, Taleb Rifai, welcomed in a press conference for the “resistance” of world tourism, despite the challenges in various regions due to the terrorism.
“tourism has shown a strength and resilience extraordinary in recent years, despite the numerous challenges, particularly those related to security,” said Rifai.
Indeed, security fears in some european countries meant that the region as a whole slow down its growth to two percent in 2016, yet despite being the most visited, with 620 million of tourists.
The european results were “very ambivalent”, since while some destinations have had “a growth rate of two figures, others had rates unchanged,” said Rifai.
North and Central Europe recorded an increase (net+6% and +4%, respectively), but in Southern Europe the mediterranean the growth was just 1.4 percent, while Western Europe declined 0.4 percent.
The government of Spain, which has remained safe from the attacks, announced last week that it reached in 2016 a record 75.3 million of visitors, to the benefit largely of tourists avoiding destinations rivals hit by attacks.
A 2017 positive
The Asia-Pacific region observed the best performance at world level in 2016, a rise of 8.4 per cent, while it was the second in terms of number of tourists received, with 303 million people.
The increase of tourists can be explained both by the visits to the interior of the Asia-Pacific region as the exterior, explained the UNWTO.
On his side, Africa showed a rebound after their sharp decline in 2015, with a rise of 8 per cent in the number of visitors. In contrast, in the Middle East, the tourists fell by 4 percent.
Rifai said that the UNWTO will update its annual ranking of countries later.
In the last, 2015, France was ranked as a first world destination, followed by united States and Spain.
“I Think that this classification (…) will remain the same for 2016″, said Rifai, who offered no more details.
In the year that has just begun, the world tourism should continue with a growth of between 3 and 4 percent, estimated by the UNWTO.
tourism accounts for 10 percent of the world’s GDP, 7 percent of the international trade and 30 per cent of exports of services, according to the organization. A job for every 11 comes from the tourism, if it takes into account both direct and indirect jobs.
The UNWTO unveiled its annual report a day before it opens in Madrid FITUR, the most important trade fair for the tourism market in Latin america and the second in the world after that of Berlin.
This year, Argentina is the guest country of the FAIR.
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