Monte Carlo | Tourism results for the period from January to August 2004 collected by the World Tourism Organization (WTO) show a spectacular rebound of tourism as all regions saw a surge in international arrivals.
Worldwide the number of international tourist arrivals is estimated to have grown by 12 per cent compared to the same months of the previous year. Asia and the Pacific led all regions with an exceptional increase of 37% in the first eight months of the year, while North America returned to positive figures (+12%) after more than three years of losses.
The October 2004 issue of the WTO World Tourism Barometer, presented on Wednesday by Secretary-General Francesco Frangialli on the occasion of the Monaco World Summit and meeting of the WTO Strategic Group, show that tourism is firmly back on the upward track with many destinations reporting double-digit, and some even triple-digit, monthly increases. After an already significant increase of 13% in the first four months of 2004, worldwide international arrivals grew by an estimated 23% in May, by 12% in June, by 10% in July and by 6% in August.
According to projections based on this data, in the peak month of August the number of worldwide international tourist arrivals topped the 90 million mark for the first time. For the entire eight-month period from January to August, the number of international tourist arrivals is estimated to have reached around 526 million, corresponding to an increase of some 58 million arrivals (+12%) compared to the same period of 2003. This leap is of course first of all a reaction to last year’s depressed figures due to the Iraq war, SARS and the weak economy. Nevertheless, compared to the corresponding months of the previous record year 2002, the gain is still 41 million arrivals (+9%).
According to WTO Secretary-General Francesco Frangialli, “tourism has recovered strongly in 2004
