Global Tourism Patterns Spatial and Temporal Summary

Global Pattern 1 Growth of Global Tourism –In 1950 = 25 million international travelers –In 1996 = 500 million –In 2004 = 760 million people and the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) predicts that by 2020 international tourist numbers will more than double to 1.6 billion each year.

The graph above shows the last 60 years of tourist growth, from just tens of millions in An important pattern or trend is the continued dominance of Europe as a destination, but also the increasing growth in numbers to East Asia and the Americas.

Global Pattern 2 Dominance of Tourism in Europe (concentration) Mature markets such as Europe remain as the leading destinations in the world.

How many of the top ten are in Europe? Why do they have so many tourist arrivals?

Pattern 3 Growth of Tourism in LEDCs (change to the pattern) Tourism growth is increasing in emerging markets and developing economies. Now that China has increased participation in global economy with its billion population, it was become a main part of global tourism.

Tourism in China has greatly expanded over the last few decades since the beginning of reform and opening.reform and opening The emergence of a newly rich middle class and an easing of restrictions on movement by the Chinese authorities are both fueling this travel boom. China has become one of the world's most-watched and hottest inbound and outbound tourist markets. The world is on the cusp of a sustained Chinese tourism boom.middle class China is the world's third most visited country in the world. The number of overseas tourists was million in 2010.Foreign exchange income was 45.8 billion U.S. dollars, the world's fourth largest in 2010.U.S. dollars The number of domestic tourist visits totalled 1.61 billion, with a total income of billion yuan.11 According to the WTO, in 2020, China will become the largest tourist country and the fourth largest for overseas travel. In terms of total outbound travel spending, China is currently ranked fifth and is expected to be the fastest growing in the world from 2006 to 2015, jumping into the number two slot for total travel spending by 2015.WTO

Pattern 4 Changing types of Tourism – e.g. the growth of Eco – tourism Origins of Ecotourism: Late 1970s  Growth of global environmental movement.  Increasing tourist dissatisfaction with mass tourism.  Host countries finding few benefits from conventional tourism.  Conservationists alarmed by destruction of rainforests and African wildlife.

Ecotourism Measuring its Importance  1990s: fastest growing sector of tourism industry ~ 20% – 34%/year  2000: $156 billion in receipts  2002: UN’s International Year of Ecotourism  Nearly every country promoting ecotourism Belize: "Mother Nature's Best Kept Secret“ Costa Rica: “No artificial ingredients" Ecuador: “Life at its purest“ Guatemala: “Soul of the Earth” Indonesia: “Ultimate in Diversity” Panama: “The path less traveled” Peru: “Land of the Inkas” Tanzania: “The Land of Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar” Thailand: “Low Emission Tourism”