International tourist arrivals grew by 4% between January and August 2012 compared to the same period of 2011 according to the latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer. The resilience of international tourism in a continuing uncertain economy is further confirmed by the positive data on tourism earnings and expenditure.

The number of international tourists worldwide grew by 4% between January and August 2012 compared to the same eight months of 2011 (28 million more). With a record 705 million tourists up to August 2012, UNWTO remains confident that one billion international tourists will have travelled the world by the end of the year.

"This growth is a very positive result in view of the global economic situation. We must remain cautious, however, as we have also observed some weaker months during the year, a trend that might return in the remainder of the year," said UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai.

Growth slowed down in June (+2.7%) and July (+1.4%) as compared the first five months of the year (average of 5%), yet recovered in August at 4%, a positive result for the month that accounts for the highest volume of international tourism in the year.

UNWTO expects growth of 3% to 4% for the year as a whole, while forecasting a slight slowdown in demand for 2013 (+2% to 4%).

Emerging economies regain the lead

Emerging economies (+5%) have clearly regained the lead as compared to advanced ones (+4%).

By regions, growth was stronger in Asia and the Pacific and Africa, followed by the Americas and Europe. The Middle East continues to show signs of recovery, with particularly promising results in Egypt.

  • Europe (+3%) consolidated its record growth of 2011 despite on-going economic volatility in the Eurozone. Results were above average in Central and Eastern Europe (+9%), in line with the average in Western Europe (+3%), yet comparatively weaker in Southern and Mediterranean Europe (+1%) – one of the best performing European sub-regions in 2011 – as well as in Northern Europe (+0.2%).
  • South-East Asia and South Asia (both at +8%) led the way in Asia and the Pacific (+7%), followed by North-East Asia (+7%), the latter reflecting the clear recovery of the Japanese inbound and outbound markets. Growth was clearly positive in Oceania (+5%) as compared to the full year 2011 (+1%).
  • In the Americas (+4%), Central (+7%) and South America (+6%) continued to show the strongest performances, with growth in the Caribbean (+5%) also significant. International tourist arrivals grew 3% in North America.
  • In Africa (+6%), the recovery of Tunisia is clearly reflected in the results of North Africa (+10%), as is the rebound of Egypt in the performance of the Middle East (-1% as compared to a decline of 7% in 2011). Destinations in Sub-Saharan Africa (+4%) continued to show very positive results, consolidating the good growth rates of previous years.

Tourism earnings and expenditures also on the rise

Among the 10 largest international tourism earners, receipts grew significantly during the first six to nine months of 2012 in Hong Kong (China) (+17%), USA (+8%), Germany (+7%), France (+5%) and the UK (+4%). A number of other major destinations reported double-digit growth in receipts, such as Japan (+48%), Sweden (+26%), South Africa (+26%), Republic of Korea (+26%), India (+23%), Poland (+19%), Thailand (+17%), Russian Federation (+16%), Egypt (+13%), Czech Republic (+13%), Taiwan (pr. of China) (+11), Singapore (+10%) and Croatia (+10%).

Among the top 10 international markets by expenditure on travel abroad, growth was significant during the first six to nine months of 2012 in China (+30%), Russia (+15%), USA (+9%), Canada (+6%), Germany (+5%), and Australia (+4%) as well as in Japan, where a 7% increase confirms the recovery of this important market. Following a decline in recent years, the UK recorded a modest 2% growth in tourism expenditure, while both Italy and France showed declines in the level of expenditure on travel abroad.

Other major advanced economies that showed significant growth in expenditure were Austria (+16%), Belgium (+13%), Switzerland (+11%) and Norway (+11%). Among the emerging economies, in addition to China and Russia double-digit growth in expenditure was posted by Poland (+22%), Malaysia (+18%), Argentina (+16%), Philippines (+14%), India (+11%) and Indonesia (+10%).

In 2011, international tourist arrivals reached 990 million (revised due to updated data). With an expected growth of 3% to 4% in 2012, this figure is forecast to reach one billion for the first time by December 2012. The date of 13 December has been designated to symbolically mark the arrival of the one billionth tourist.

In 2011, receipts from international tourism, including international passenger transport, (exports from tourism) totalled US$ 1.2 trillion or close to 6% of the world's exports of goods and services. For more information on tourism in 2011 see UNWTO Tourism Highlights.

The UNWTO World Tourism Barometer is a regular publication of UNWTO aimed at monitoring the short-term evolution of tourism and providing the sector with relevant and timely information.

For more information on the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, including the latest international tourism figures by (sub)region see: http://mkt.unwto.org/en/barometer

About UN Tourism

The World Tourism Organization (UN Tourism) is the United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism.

As the leading international organization in the field of tourism, UN Tourism promotes tourism as a driver of economic growth, inclusive development and environmental sustainability and offers leadership and support to the sector in advancing knowledge and tourism policies worldwide.

Our Priorities

Mainstreaming tourism in the global agenda: Advocating the value of tourism as a driver of socio-economic growth and development, its inclusion as a priority in national and international policies and the need to create a level playing field for the sector to develop and prosper.

Promoting sustainable tourism development: Supporting sustainable tourism policies and practices: policies which make optimal use of environmental resources, respect the socio-cultural authenticity of host communities and provide socio-economic benefits for all.

Fostering knowledge, education and capacity building: Supporting countries to assess and address their needs in education and training, as well as providing networks for knowledge creation and exchange.

Improving tourism competitiveness: Improving UN Tourism Members' competitiveness through knowledge creation and exchange, human resources development and the promotion of excellence in areas such as policy planning, statistics and market trends, sustainable tourism development, marketing and promotion, product development and risk and crisis management.

Advancing tourism's contribution to poverty reduction and development: Maximizing the contribution of tourism to poverty reduction and achieving the SDGs by making tourism work as a tool for development and promoting the inclusion of tourism in the development agenda.

Building partnerships: Engaging with the private sector, regional and local tourism organizations, academia and research institutions, civil society and the UN system to build a more sustainable, responsible and competitive tourism sector.

Our Structure

Members: An intergovernmental organization, UN Tourism has 160 Member States, 6 Associate Members, 2 Observers and over 500 Affiliate Members.

Organs: The General Assembly is the supreme organ of the Organization. The Executive Council take all measures, in consultation with the Secretary-General, for the implementation of the decisions and recommendations of the General Assembly and reports to the Assembly.

Secretariat: UN Tourism headquarters are based in Madrid, Spain. The Secretariat is led by the Secretary-General and organized into departments covering issues such as sustainability, education, tourism trends and marketing, sustainable development, statistics and the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA), destination management, ethics and risk and crisis management. The Technical Cooperation and Silk Road Department carries out development projects in over 100 countries worldwide, while the Regional Departments for Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and the Middle East serve as the link between UN Tourism and its 160 Member States. The Affiliate Members Department represents UN Tourism's 500 plus Affiliate members.

Rut Gómez Sobrino
Principal Media Officer
(+34) 91 567 81 60
UN Tourism