World tourism numbers post biggest first-half rise since 2010: UN

International tourist numbers grew 6.4 percent in the first half of 2017, the strongest halfyear figures in seven years, with Mediterranean destinations posting double-digit growth, the UN World Tourism Organisation said this week.

The number of international tourists surged to around 598 million between January and June, some 36 million more than during the same period last year, the Madrid-based United Nations body said in a statement.

Rising business confidence and strong outbound demand from major source markets such as Britain, China, France and the United States were behind the rise. “The first half of 2017 shows healthy growth in an increasingly dynamic and resilient tourism market, including a strong recovery in some of the destinations impacted by security challenges last year,” said UNWTO Secretarygeneral Taleb Rifai.

Mediterranean destinations reported “particularly strong growth” in the first half of 2017, including those such as Egypt, Tunisia and Turkey, which suffered terrorist attacks in recent years, causing a slump in visitors, the organisation said.

Southern and Mediterranean Europe saw a 12-percent rise in international visitors, North Africa posted a 16-percent rise and the Middle East recorded an increase of 8.9 percent.

Tourist arrivals overall in Europe, the world’s most-visited region, grew 7.7 percent.

Africa saw a 7.6-percent rise in visitor numbers, while Asia and the Pacific posted 5.7-percent growth.

International arrivals in the Americas were up 3.0 percent in the first half of the year.

Growth was solid in South America, up by 6.0 percent, while North America saw just 2.0 percent growth as a decrease in arrivals in the United States offset robust results for Canada and Mexico.

In the whole of 2016, the number of international tourist arrivals grew by 3.9 percent from the previous year to 1.23 billion and the UN body expects the figure to grow by three to four percent this year.