Newly released statistics from the World Tourism Organization indicate that global international tourist arrivals increased by 3.8% to a total of 567 million in 1995. International tourist revenues were up by 7.2% to US$372 thousand million. In spite of an economic downturn in Japan, the Japanese market last year was the leading source of overseas visitors to the USA (outside of Canada and Mexico) with an estimated increase of 17%. Latin America showed a huge growth with Brazil, in particular, recording the highest percentage increase in America’s top markets at 35%.
These figures are even more significant when coupled with the World Bank’s latest survey of global economic prospects for the next ten years.
The report forecasts that the fastest growth will come from East Asia with an annual increase projected of 7.7% in real GDP.
Latin America is in third place after South Asia with a forecast of 3.5% in annual growth. All three areas rank ahead of our traditional markets in North America and Europe.