International tourism

International tourism over time

International tourist arrivals per year by region

International tourism is tourism that crosses national borders. Globalisation has made tourism a popular global leisure activity. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes". The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that up to 500,000 people are in flight at any one time.

Modern aviation has made it possible to travel long distances quickly.

In 2010, international tourism reached US$919B, growing 6.5% over 2009, corresponding to an increase in real terms of 4.7%. In 2010, there were over 940 million international tourist arrivals worldwide. By 2016 that number had risen to 1,235 million, producing 1,220 billion USD in destination spending. The COVID-19 crisis had significant negative effects on international tourism significantly slowing the overall increasing trend.

International tourism has significant impacts on the environment, exacerbated in part by the problems created by air travel but also by other issues, including wealthy tourists bringing lifestyles that stress local infrastructure, water and trash systems among others.

History

As a result of the late-2000s recession, international travel demand suffered a strong slowdown from the second half of 2008 through the end of 2009. This negative trend intensified during 2009, exacerbated in some countries due to the outbreak of the H1N1 influenza virus, resulting in a worldwide decline of 4.2% in 2009 to 880 million international tourists arrivals, and a 5.7% decline in international tourism receipts.

COVID-19

This section is an excerpt from Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourism.[edit]

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the tourism industry due to the resulting travel restrictions as well as slump in demand among travelers. The tourism industry has been massively affected by the spread of coronavirus, as many countries have introduced travel restrictions in an attempt to contain its spread. The United Nations World Tourism Organization estimated that global international tourist arrivals could have decreased by 58% to 78% in 2020, leading to a potential loss of US $0.9–1.2 trillion in international tourism receipts.

In many of the world's cities, planned travel went down by 80–90%. Conflicting and unilateral travel restrictions occurred regionally and many tourist attractions around the world, such as museums, amusement parks, gyms and sports venues closed down. After March 2020, tourist firms' connectivity has skyrocketed. Restaurants are the most significantly impacted subsectors of tourism, followed by airline firms. UNWTO reported a 65% drop in international tourist arrivals in the first six months of 2020. Air passenger travel showed a similar decline. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development released a report in June 2021 stating that the global economy could lose over US$4 trillion as a result of the pandemic.

Some people have taken advantage of airlines drastically reducing their fares to travel for leisure despite multiple warnings to remain at home, along with two-week self-quarantine requirements upon arrival or return from travel. A number of college students tested positive for COVID-19 after returning from traditional spring break destinations such as the Florida beaches, South Padre Island, and Cabo San Lucas. Many tourism venues such as museums, visitor centers, restaurants and hotels mandated COVID-19 vaccination for their staff or visitors. Research has shown that tourists have varying levels of belief on COVID-19 vaccination in terms of its effectiveness and side effects, which have impact on the preferences of tourists to preference to visit or use "vaccinated venues".

Together with a decreased willingness to travel, the restrictions have had a negative economic impact on the travel sector in those regions. A possible long-term impact has been a decline of business travel and international conferencing, and the rise of their virtual, online equivalents. Concerns have been raised over the effectiveness of travel restrictions to contain the spread of COVID-19.

In Cambodia, Foreign arrivals in March 2020 fell by 65% year-on-year. Angkor Wat, usually crowded with thousands of tourists per day, was left almost deserted, with an average of 22 ticket sales per day for the whole Angkor National Park during April 2020. In Vietnam, Foreign arrivals in April 2020 fell by 98% year-on-year.

Tourism in Hawaii went on hiatus. Tourist arrivals in Hawaii down nearly 100% in April 2020 and its 14-day mandatory quarantine kept tourism low. A number of tourists who came to the state but did not follow the quarantine were arrested. In June 2020, Hawaii had still not set a date for reopening to out-of-state tourism. As of 16 June, the quarantine would be lifted for inter-island tourism. Florida tourism had a year-over-year 11% drop in the first quarter of 2020. During the pandemic in Door County, Wisconsin, hundreds of seasonal residents relocated to the county earlier in the spring than they typically do. In 2020, staycations became popular in the United States, where most people spent their vacation time at or close to home. Most vacation travel was done by car, as gas prices are low and many people prefer to wait to the last minute to plan trips due to uncertainties. There were sharp declines in travel by air, cruise ship, bus and rail.

In Australia, Tourism bodies have suggested that the total economic cost to the sector, as of 11 February 2020, would be A$4.5 billion. Casino earnings are expected to fall. At least two localities in Australia, Cairns and the Gold Coast, have reported already lost earnings of more than $600 million. The Australian Tourism Industry Council (ATIC) called on the Government of Australia for financial support especially in light of the large number of small businesses affected. In March, national travel agency Flight Centre has indefinitely closed 100 stores throughout Australia, due to significantly lower demand for travel. It also suffered a 75% decline in share price, and announced that 6,000 staff would be made redundant or placed on unpaid leave globally.

Rankings

Total volume of cross-border tourist travel

International tourist arrivals reached 1.035 billion in 2012, up from over 996 million in 2011, and 952 million in 2010. In 2011 and 2012, international travel demand continued to recover from the losses resulting from the late-2000s recession, where tourism suffered a strong slowdown from the second half of 2008 through the end of 2009. After a 5% increase in the first half of 2008, growth in international tourist arrivals moved into negative territory in the second half of 2008, and ended up only 2% for the year, compared to a 7% increase in 2007. The negative trend intensified during 2009, exacerbated in some countries due to the outbreak of the H1N1 influenza virus, resulting in a worldwide decline of 4.2% in 2009 to 880 million international tourists arrivals, and a 5.7% decline in international tourism receipts.

World's top tourism destinations

Main article: World Tourism rankings

In 2019, there were 1.460 billion international tourist arrivals worldwide, with a growth of 3.7% as compared to 2018. The World Tourism Organization reports the following ten destinations as the most visited in terms of the number of international travelers in 2019.

Rank	Destination	International tourist arrivals (2019)	International tourist arrivals (2018)	Change (2018 to 2019) (%)	Change (2017 to 2018) (%)
1	France	89 million	89.4 million	N/A	2.9
2	Spain	83.5 million	82.8 million	0.8	1.1
3	United States	79.3 million	79.7 million	0.6	3.3
4	China	65.7 million	62.9 million	4.5	3.6
5	Italy	64.5 million	61.6 million	4.8	5.7
6	Turkey	51.2 million	45.8 million	11.9	21.7
7	Mexico	45.0 million	41.3 million	9.0	5.1
8	Thailand	39.8 million	38.2 million	4.3	7.3
9	Germany	39.6 million	38.9 million	1.8	3.8
10	United Kingdom	39.4 million	38.7 million	1.9	2.2
Notes

International tourism receipts

The World Tourism Organization reports that international tourism receipts were US$1.7 trillion in 2018, an increase in real terms of 4% over 2017. The top ten tourism earners in 2018 were:

Rank	Country/Area	International tourism receipts (2018)
1	United States	$214.00 billion
2	Spain	$74.00 billion
3	France	$67.00 billion
4	Thailand	$63.00 billion
5	United Kingdom	$52.00 billion
6	Italy	$49.00 billion
7	Egypt	$45.00 billion
8	Germany	$43.00 billion
9	Japan	$41.00 billion
10	China	$40.00 billion

International tourism expenditure

The World Tourism Organization reports the following countries as the ten biggest spenders on international tourism for the year 2018.

Rank	Country	International tourism expenditure (2018)
1	China	$277 billion
2	United States	$144 billion
3	Germany	$94 billion
4	United Kingdom	$76 billion
5	France	$48 billion
6	Australia	$37 billion
7	Russia	$35 billion
8	Canada	$33 billion
9	South Korea	$32 billion
10	Italy	$30 billion

Euromonitor International Top City Destinations Ranking

Euromonitor International rated these the world's most visited cities by international tourists in 2017:

Rank	City	Country	International tourist arrivals
1	Hong Kong	China	27.88 million
2	Bangkok	Thailand	22.45 million
3	London	United Kingdom	19.82 million
4	Singapore	Singapore	17.61 million
5	Cairo	Egypt	17.33 million
6	Paris	France	15.83 million
7	Dubai	United Arab Emirates	15.79 million
8	New York City	United States	13.10 million
9	Macau	China	12.84 million
10	Kuala Lumpur	Malaysia	12.47 million

World Travel and Tourism Council

Countries showing strong international travel and tourism growth between 2010 and 2016

Rank	Country	Percentage
1	Myanmar	73.5%
2	Sudan	49.8%
3	Azerbaijan	36.4%
4	Qatar	34.1%
5	São Tomé and Príncipe	30.1%
6	Sri Lanka	26.4%
7	Cameroon	25.5%
8	Georgia	22.7%
9	Iceland	20.0%
10	Kyrgyzstan	19.5%

Countries that performed best in fastest growing tourism and travel industry in 2016

Rank	Country	Percentage
1	Azerbaijan	46.1%
2	Mongolia	24.4%
3	Iceland	20.1%
4	Cyprus	15.4%
5	Kazakhstan	15.2%
6	Moldova	14.2%
7	Costa Rica	12.1%
8	Georgia	11.2%
9	Sri Lanka	10.7%
10	Thailand	10.7%