World tourism up sharply last year: UN

"Tourism has once again proved to be a highly resilient sector," UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai said in announcing the results.

"Boosted by improved economic conditions worldwide, international tourism has recovered faster than expected from the impacts of the global financial crisis and economic recession of late 2008 and 2009," the Madrid-based body said in a statement.

It said international tourist arrivals were up by 6.7 per cent, or 58 million, at 935 million compared to 2009 "with positive growth reported in all world regions."

The figure was higher than the pre-crisis level of 913 million in 2008.

"While all regions posted growth in international tourist arrivals, emerging economies remain the main drivers of this recovery," it said.

The result "is better than many experts predicted," Rifai told a news conference.

"The important part of this is that we are finally above the level of 2008... The challenge now is to consolidate this growth, which is not going to be an easy task."

The UNWTO statement said strong performance came "despite persistent economic uncertainty in major markets, the natural disasters suffered in some countries, political and social unrest in others, the serious disruption of air travel following a volcanic eruption in Iceland last April and the problematic weather conditions in parts of Europe and the USA in December."

But it also noted the "the importance of mega events" on the flow of tourism, including the Shanghai Expo in China, the World Cup in South Africa, the Winter Olympics in Canada and the Commonwealth Games in India.

Asia was the major driver, with tourism up 13 per cent at a new record of 204 million arrivals.

"Asia was the first region to recover and the strongest growing region in 2010," the UN body said.

In Africa, the only region to show positive results in 2009, tourist arrivals were up another 6.0 percent in 2010.

Tourism in the Middle East was up 14 per cent, the Americas 8.0 per cent and Europe 3.0 per cent, where the eruption of the volcano in Iceland and the uncertainty affecting the euro zone affected results.

It noted growth in tourism receipts continued to lag behind arrivals, "as is the trend during periods of recovery.

Outbound tourism was again driven by emerging markets, with Brazil up 52 per cent in terms of expenditure, Saudi Arabia 28 per cent, Russia 26 per cent and China 17 per cent.

But spending by British tourists was down by 4.0 per cent in 2010 from the previous year.

The UNWTO predicted growth will continue in 2011, but at a slower rate of 4-5 per cent, slightly above the long-term average.

"Persistent high unemployment remains a major concern, with the gradual recovery in employment expected for 2011 still too weak to compensate for the jobs lost during the economic crsis," the statement said.

"A recent tendency towards introducing and increasing taxation on travel as a means of balancing public accounts represents a further challenge to the sector."