International tourism has made a near-complete recovery from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, UN Tourism has said with the issue of its latest World Tourism Barometer.
285 million travellers in three months
Tourist arrivals worldwide in the first quarter of 2024 reached 97% of pre-pandemic numbers, the report says. This means over 285 million people, 20% more than in 2023, made international trips over the three months. And, the UN body predicts, the sector is set to grow, with arrivals for 2024 overall likely to be 2% up on last year.
Europe and the Middle East shine
Among the world regions, the world’s largest destination region, Europe, brought in the most income from tourism in 2023, its destinations earning USD 660 billion, a real terms rise of 7% on pre-pandemic figures. Europe also beat pre-pandemic levels by a quarter for the first time in 2024 (+1% from Q1 2019), recording 120 million international tourists in the first three months of the year.
The Americas too have put the pandemic behind them, with arrivals figures for the first quarter at 99% of 2019’s, while Africa also saw growth of 5% in Q1 arrivals compared to 2019 and is significantly up on 2023, by 13%.
But it is tourism in the Middle East that is growing fastest. It saw the strongest relative growth, with Q1 2024 international arrivals up 36% on pre-pandemic levels, and 4% above Q1 2023, which UN Tourism has described as an “extraordinary” year for the region as it became the first world region to outdo its pre-pandemic performance (+22%).
The Asia-Pacific region is still only at 82% of pre-Covid Q1 figures, but, having seen some of the toughest pandemic regimes anywhere, that belies a 65% increase in 2023.
Which destinations did best?
Particular destinations that came in for a special mention in the Barometer report thanks to their 2024 Q1 arrivals, include Qatar (+177%) and Saudi Arabia (+98%) in the Middle East, where huge drives to diversify away from oil and into services are at play. In Europe, Albania (+121% over 2019), Serbia (+43%), Bulgaria (+38%), Malta (+37%), Norway (+34%) and Andorra (+30%) were highlighted. And in Asia, the report picked out the Maldives (+25%), Mongolia (+14%) and Fiji (+13%).
When it comes to demand and spending, the report notes that consumer confidence still shows concern notably about the cost of living, international conflicts. Nonetheless, Germany spent 37% and the United States 33% more on outbound travel. Italy’s spending on going away was also buoyant – up 29%.
