UN Tourism: World Tourism Barometer for the First Quarter of 2024

The United Nations World Tourism Organization released its second "World Tourism Barometer" for 2024 yesterday, pointing out that the number of international tourists in the first quarter of this year exceeded 285 million, an increase of about 20% over the same period last year, reaching 97% of the pre-epidemic level, indicating that the industry has almost completely escaped the impact of the epidemic.

By 2023, the number of international tourists will recover to 89% of the 2019 level, tourism export revenue will recover to 96%, and tourism direct GDP will reach the 2019 level.

The World Tourism Organization predicts that international tourism will fully recover this year, with tourist arrivals increasing by 2% compared to 2019.

The Middle East, Europe and Africa have shown outstanding growth in tourism

The latest data from the World Tourism Organization shows that the Middle East has the strongest relative growth. In 2023, the Middle East became the first region in the world to recover its pre-epidemic numbers, with international tourist arrivals 22% higher than pre-epidemic levels. In the first quarter of 2024, international tourist arrivals were 36% higher than pre-COVID-19 levels, and 4% higher than the first quarter of 2023.

Europe is the world's largest tourist destination region. In the first quarter of this year, the number of international tourists arriving in Europe reached 120 million, 1% higher than the first quarter of 2019.

In the first quarter, inbound tourist arrivals to Africa increased by 5% compared to the same period in 2019 and by 13% compared to the same period in 2023.

The Americas almost recovered pre-pandemic visitor numbers in the first quarter, reaching 99% of 2019 levels.

International tourism in Asia and the Pacific is recovering rapidly, with 65% recovery in 2023. Tourist arrivals in the first quarter of 2024 reached 82% of pre-pandemic levels.

Compared with the first quarter of 2019, many tourist destinations continued to perform well in the same period of 2024, with some destinations even experiencing triple-digit growth in the number of international tourists, such as Qatar (up 177%) and Albania (up 121%).

International tourism revenue reaches $1.5 trillion

The latest data from UNWTO shows the significant impact of tourism recovery on destination economies.

In 2023, international tourism revenues reached $1.5 trillion, which means a full recovery to pre-COVID-19 levels in nominal terms, but a recovery of 97% in real terms, after deducting inflation.

By region, Europe will have the highest tourism revenue in 2023, reaching $660 billion, 7% higher in real terms than before the COVID-19 pandemic. Tourism revenue in the Middle East increased by 33% compared to 2019. The Americas recovered to 96% of pre-pandemic revenue. Africa recovered 95%. Asia and the Pacific recovered 78%, a remarkable achievement compared to 65% last year.

In 2023, total export revenues from international tourism (including passenger transport) will reach $1.7 trillion, or about 96% of pre-pandemic levels in real terms. If direct GDP from tourism returns to pre-pandemic levels, it is expected to reach $3.3 trillion in 2023, equivalent to 3% of global GDP.

​The document link will be shared to 199IT Knowledge Planet. Scan the QR code below to view it!