Tourism

Discussions of international trade rarely dwell on a category that is among the most important for developing nations, namely tourism. The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) issued a joint statement at an October 8, 2018 meeting in Geneva, Switzerland recognizing tourism as the third-largest sector in international trade, behind only chemicals and fuels, and ahead of automotive products. With $1.6 trillion in 2017 exports, tourism accounts for 10.4% of global domestic product, 30% of global services exports, and employs 313 million people worldwide. In many developing countries, tourism is the top export category.

The UNWTO 2018 publication Tourism Highlights reports 2017 international tourism totaled 1.3 billion tourist arrivals, a 7% increase over the previous year. Leisure accounted for 55% of visits, while business visits totaled 13%. (The remainder included religion, health, visits to friends or relatives.) 57% of tourists arrived by air, and 37% by road. For the countries receiving tourists, benefits go beyond the direct monetary receipts, contributing to economic development, fostering preservation of cultural assets and protection of natural environments.

Just over half the tourists, 672 million, had Europe as their destination. Asia and the Pacific were the destinations of 323 million, the Americas received 211 million, Africa 63 million and the Middle East 58 million. The counts for individual countries are hard to imagine in some cases, particularly in relation to their resident populations. France recorded 86.9 million tourists in 2017. France is a country of 65 million people. Spain, with 46 million people, had 81.8 million visitors. The remainder of the top five destinations were the United States with 76.9 million visitors, China with 60.7 million and Italy with 58.3 million visitors, slightly fewer than its 59 million residents. Italy and Spain each increased its 2017 visits by six million over 2016.

Several factors contribute to the size of the flow of tourists. The depreciation of the British pound, for example, made visiting there more affordable. Purchasing power relative to the tourists’ home countries impacts travel decisions. Other factors include air connectivity, weather (a major issue for Caribbean destinations) and security. The political relations between sending and receiving countries, and the ease of obtaining visas impact travel decisions. Rising levels of disposable income in Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America have generated increased tourism.

Those big tourist counts for Spain and Italy come with a downside. As noted in a recent article in Time magazine, “In the decade since the financial crisis began, tourism has come to be seen by European countries as an economic lifesaver. The industry generated $321 billion for the E.U. in 2016 and now employs 12 million people.” Some natives believe that tourists are destroying the environments that attract them. Every day during high tourist season, four or five cruise ships deposit their thousands of passengers in Barcelona. The city has taken measures to control tourist traffic, including limiting docking licenses and prohibiting construction of new hotels in the city center. Venice and Amsterdam, Greece, Norway and Iceland have taken similar measures.

With thousands of residents who depend on tourist dollars, tourism is a mixed blessing, as countries still growing their tourist industries can learn from established destinations.