Is International Tourism heading towards another record year?

The oldest Mosque in West Africa, Larabanga Mosque located in Ghana.

Preliminary data from the latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer indicates that, ‘between January and August this year, destinations across the world welcomed 901 million international tourist arrivals (overnight visitors), 56 million more than in the same period of 2016. This corresponds to a robust 7% increase, well above the growth of previous years.

For many countries, tourism has become one of the largest commodities in international trade. Politicians at all levels are typically very concerned with tourism. They look increasingly at

tourism as a tool for economic development.

In recent times, tourism has moved from being the province of the rich to being accessible to the masses, involving millions of people. According to the World Health Organisation, up to 500,000 people are in flight at any one time.

This rapid growth in the movement of people, both domestically and internationally, has brought about an industry of vast proportions and diversity.

UNWTO’s Tourism: 2020 Vision, forecasts that international arrivals will exceed 1.6 billion by 2020. In 2016, there were 1.235 billion international tourists’ arrivals worldwide, with a growth of 4% as compared to 1.186 billion in 2015. This shows the persistency of the travel industry.

According to the UNWTO World Tourism barometer, demand for international tourism remained strong during the Northern Hemisphere summer peak season. International tourist arrivals in July and August totalled over 300 million for the first time. Many destinations reported double-digit growth, particularly in the Mediterranean.

In Europe, an overall 8 percent growth was registered while growth of 12 percent was seen in the Mediterranean and Southern Europe.

An increase of 6 percent was observed in Asia and the Pacific region, while 5 percent and 3 percent increases were seen in the Middle East and the Americas respectively.

Outbound departures in Asia (including Asia Pacific and Australia) showed healthy growth and an inbound arrival in Africa is increasing due to the adoption of visa free policy by many African nations.  The Africa Visa Openness Index 2017 reported that African countries such as Benin, South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe are looking to open their countries and improve mobility.

In July 2016, Ghana officially opened its doors to fellow Africans removing visa requirements before arriving in the country. Now, citizens of the African Union (AU) member states are issued visas upon arrival at the country’s Kotoka International Airport.

With upbeat prospects for the remaining months of the year, 2017 is set to be the eighth consecutive year of continued solid growth for international tourism’.