About 790 million tourists traveled abroad - 4% less than before the pandemic

International tourism has returned to 96% of pre-pandemic levels by July 2024, driven by strong demand in Europe and the reopening of markets in Asia and the Pacific.

According to the latest UN Tourism's world tourist barometer, about 790 million tourists traveled abroad in the first seven months of 2024, about 11% more than in 2023 and only 4% less than in 2019. The data shows a strong start to the year, followed by a more modest second quarter. The results are in line with the UN tourism projection of a full recovery of international arrivals in 2024 despite ongoing economic and geopolitical risks.

"International tourism is on track to fully recover from the biggest crisis in the sector's history. The ongoing recovery comes despite a number of economic and geopolitical challenges, highlighting strong demand for international travel, as well as the effectiveness of strengthening air links and easing visa restrictions. This recovery also highlights the growing need for tourism planning and management of its impacts on communities in a way that the enormous socioeconomic benefits are coupled with inclusive and sustainable policies", said UN Secretary General for Tourism Zurab Pololikashvili.

With increased air connectivity and visa facilitation supporting the recovery in international travel, the data shows that all regions of the world have recorded a strong year to date.

• The Middle East remained the region with the strongest growth in relative terms, with international arrivals climbing 2024% in the first seven months of 26 compared to 2019 levels.
• Africa received 7% more tourists than in the same months of 2019.
• Europe and America recovered 99% and 97% of their pre-pandemic arrivals respectively during these seven months.
• Asia and the Pacific recorded 82% of the number of tourists before the pandemic (-18% compared to 2019), reaching 85% in June and 86% in July.
• A total of 67 out of 120 destinations worldwide regained their 2019 arrivals in the first half of 2024.

Data on receipts and expenditures show even stronger results

In terms of international tourism receipts, 47 of the 63 countries with available data returned to pre-pandemic levels in the first six months of 2024, with many reporting strong double-digit growth compared to 2019 (in local currencies and current prices).

Among the best performers by June or July 2024 were Albania (+128%) and Serbia (+126%) where revenues more than doubled compared to the same period in 2019, followed by Tajikistan (+85%), Pakistan ( + 76%), Montenegro (+70%), North Macedonia (+60%) and Portugal (+57%). Strong results were recorded by Turkey (+55%) and Colombia (+54%). Worth mentioning based on Q207 data are Saudi Arabia (+168%) and El Salvador (+2019%) which enjoyed remarkable growth compared to QXNUMX XNUMX.

International tourism spending data reveals strong demand for outbound travel between January and July 2024, particularly from major source markets such as the United States (+32%), Germany (+38%) and the United Kingdom (+40% to March ), compared to the same period in 2019. Strong outbound spending was also reported by Australia (+34%), Canada (+28%) and Italy (+26%), through June 2024. Limited data for India shows impressive growth in external consumption, with growth of 86% in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the first quarter of 2019.

Revised figures for 2023 show export earnings from international tourism reaching USD 1,8 trillion (including revenue and passenger transport), almost the same as before the pandemic (-1% in real terms compared to 2019). Direct tourism GDP also recovered to pre-pandemic levels in 2023, reaching an estimated USD 3,4 trillion, equivalent to 3% of global GDP. In 2019, tourism directly contributed 4% of global GDP.

A positive conclusion is expected in 2024, although challenges remain

The UN tourism confidence index shows positive expectations for the last part of the year, at 120 points for the period September to December 2024, although it is below expectations for the period May to August, which was 130 (on a scale of 0 to 200, where 100 reflects equal expected performance). About 47% of tourism experts who participated in the confidence survey expect better results of the sector in the last four months of 2024, while 41% predict similar results and 11% worse. This reflects the gradual normalization of tourism results after a strong 2023.

The experts pointed out inflation in travel and tourism, i.e. high prices of transportation and accommodation, but also the global economic situation, lack of staff and extreme weather events as the main challenge that the tourism sector is currently facing.

Photo: hrturism