/ Tourism is a reliable economic sector, and data on international tourist arrivals in 2019 released by the World Tourism Organization prove it /

Tourism is recognised as an industry, however it is easy to neglect the fact that over the last 70 years it has become one of the largest and fastest-growing sectors of the world economy. While in 1950, international tourist arrivals totalled 25 million, by 1980 the number had grown to 278 million, and then 527 million in 1995, surpassing one billion in 2012 and finally reaching the 1.4 billion mark in 2018. 

At the same time total export revenues international tourism jumped from 2 billion dollars in 1950 to 104 billion in 1980, 415 billion in 1995 until breaking the one trillion barrier in 2012. And in 2018 they grew up to 1.7 trillion dollars.

What is also striking is that, in contrast to the moderate expansion of the global economy, international tourism has progressively grown above expectations over recent years making the sector a true global force for economic growth and development, and both emerging and advanced economies are benefiting from rising tourism income. 

This happened in 2019 too and data published in the latest World Tourism Barometer – a publication of the World Tourism Organizations (UNWTO) that monitors short-term tourism trends on a regular basis – show it unquestionably…

Continue reading – p.69 Games & Parks Industry January 2020