The World Tourism Organization (WTO) announced that after three years of stagnant growth, international tourism experienced a spectacular rebound in 2004. According to the WTO World Tourism Barometer, presented to the media at a news conference in Bangkok, Thailand, international tourist arrivals reached an all-time record of 760 million – an increase of 10% over 2003.
Growth was common to all regions, but was predominantly strong in Asia and
the Pacific (+29%) and in the Middle East (+21%). Double-digit growth was
also registered in the Americas (+10%), while Africa (+7%) and Europe (+4%)
performed below the world average, but still substantially improved their
results of previous years.
2004 was marked by the strong rebound of Asia and the Pacific after the setbacks suffered in 2003 under the blow of SARS, by the return of the Americas to positive results and by the redistribution of overall tourism flows in Europe and in the Americas under the effects of the USD/euro exchange rate. The recovery of the world economy, and in particular of the economies of important American and European generating markets, strongly contributed to the very good results obtained in 2004.
The fears of the impact of the oil prices were overall offset as the year
went by and such increases were being absorbed by the dynamism of the world
economy and seem to have not affected the consumers’ travel confidence, according to the WTO Tourism Barometer.
“As we foresaw in October, tourism in 2004 reached a record of 760 million
international tourist arrivals and the best growth rate of the last 20
years,” WTO Secretary-General Francesco Frangialli said. “We are confident
that the tourism sector is back on the right track after three difficult
years and though still in commotion over the tragic events in Asia, the
tourism sector will surely show again its extraordinary resilience and its
ability to overcome difficulties by making an important contribution to the
quick recovery of the affected countries”.