Global travel continues to rise: UNWTO

According to the latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, international tourist arrivals grew four per cent between January and April 2015, with almost all regions experiencing strong growth.

During that time, the UNWTO found that destinations worldwide received some 332 million international overnight visitors, up 14 million from the same period last year. The result, which follows an increase of 4.3 per cent in 2014, is in line with an upward trend in international tourism in recent years, which has seen an average 4.5 per cent annual increase in worldwide travel since 2010.

The Americas saw the strongest growth during the four-month period at six per cent, followed by Europe, Asia and the Pacific and the Middle East, all recording between four and five per cent more arrivals, the UNWTO said. By subregion, Oceania and South America boasted the strongest increase at eight per cent each, followed by the Caribbean and Central/Eastern Europe, both at seven per cent. In Africa, the UNWTO found that demand weakened in 2014 after years of solid growth, affected mainly by the Ebola outbreak. Citing limited data currently available for January-April 2015, the organization said that current statistics point to a six per cent decline in travel to the continent.

Looking ahead, the UNWTO estimates that during the May-August period, close to 500 million tourists will travel abroad.