The most popular tourist destinations in the world

  •  The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has published the UNWTO Tourism Review report. It is a world tourism barometer and looks at tourism trends around the world. Among other things, UNWTO tracks the growth and decline of tourism activity in different countries and regions of the world.

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The most popular global tourism destinations

  •  Two regions showed the greatest tourist growth – Africa, by 9% and Europe, by 8%. At the same time, more than half of the tourists from the global international flow (671 million people) rushed to Europe, while Africa received less than one tenth of this figure – only 63 million tourists visited there.

  •  All the Nordic countries, including the UK, reported an increase in tourist traffic. Travelers who want to enjoy the beauties of Foggy Albion are not even deterred by the terrorist attacks in London and Manchester last year. The weakening of the British pound significantly helped the entry of England into the top ten most popular countries for tourism.

  •  Although many children, as well as their parents, are still afraid to go "to Africa for a walk", the UNWTO study notes a steady increase in tourism in most African destinations that reported their data. For example, in Tunisia, the number of arrivals of travelers was 23% higher than the figures. And south of the Sahara, major cities in Kenya, Côte d'Ivoire, Mauritius and Zimbabwe perform well. And the most popular island destinations in Africa are the Seychelles, Cape Verde and Reunion.

Top 10 most popular countries for tourism

  •  The main mode of transport for all major tourist destinations was aircraft (57%), followed by cars (37%), water transport (4%) and rail (2% in total).

The majority of tourists (55%) named leisure as the purpose of visiting another country. Business accounted for only 13% of trips. The purpose of other visits was either not specified or related to reasons such as visiting relatives, medical tourism or observance of religious customs.

  •  Interesting Facts:

• According to the report, total international tourist travel increased by 6,8 percent to 1,32 billion in 2017. This is the highest number since 2009 and 84 million more than in 2016. And all thanks to the rapid global economic recovery.
• The recovery in travel demand from Brazilians and the Russian Federation after several years of decline, and the continued growth of the Indian economy, have also boosted profits for many popular destinations.
• Spending on international tourism in 2017 amounted to 1,34 trillion. dollars due to strong outbound demand from both traditional and emerging markets. Nearly 40% of this amount comes from the expenses of those who traveled around Europe last year. They are followed by the Asia-Pacific region (29% of total spending) and the Americas (24%).
• Who is spending all this money? The UNWTO report said that Chinese tourists spent almost a fifth of the 1,34 trillion. dollars – 258 billion dollars. But American travelers were more economical and took only second place, spending $ 2017 billion in 135. The Russians also entered the top ten spenders (+ 30%), ahead of the South Koreans and Italians, but behind the Canadians, Germans, British, Australians and French.

  •  The vast majority of international travel occurs within the travelers' own regions (intra-regional tourism). Europe remains the world's largest source of outbound tourism. It generates nearly half of the world's international arrivals. But the Asia-Pacific region is catching up. Currently, one in 4 trips takes place within Asia and the Pacific.