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UN sees tourist numbers sharply down in 2009
Madrid (AFP) July 2, 2009 The UN World Tourism Organisation revised its 2009 global tourism forecast sharply down Thursday due to a worsening economic outlook and uncertainty over the impact of the swine flu pandemic. In the June edition of its "World Tourism Barometer", the Madrid-based body forecast international tourism would decrease between four and six percent this year. In January it had predicted a decline of between zero and two percent. "The negative trend in international tourism that emerged during the second half of 2008 intensified in 2009," it said in a statement, adding that economic growth prospects have been adjusted downwards repeatedly in recent months. "There is additional uncertainty regarding the future of the influenza A(H1N1) virus and its effect on demand in the short to medium term," the statement added. The International Monetary Fund was forecasting growth of over 2.0 percent for the world economy when the UN body issued its tourism forecast in January. The IMF is now forecasting a global economic contraction of 1.3 percent. During the first four months of 2009, global tourism declined by 8.0 percent from the same year-ago period to 247 million international tourism arrivals, the UN body said in the statement. Europe posted a decline of ten percent between January and April while Asia and the Pacific region saw a decline of six percent during the period. Africa and South America were the only regions to buck the downward trend, posting increases of three percent and 0.2 percent respectively. "The positive results in Africa reflect the strength of North African destinations around the Mediterranean and the recovery of Kenya as one of leading Sub-Saharan destinations," the statement said. International tourism arrivals rose 1.9 percent in 2008 over the previous year to 922 million. France remained the world's top tourism destination that year with 79 million arrivals while the United States regained the second-plance position which it lost to Spain after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Share This Article With Planet Earth
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