World tourism growth stalls in 2001

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After almost 50 years of uninterrupted growth in tourism, the global industry ground to a halt last year, according to preliminary results just released by the World Tourism Organization (WTO).

International arrivals slipped by 1.3% due to the September 11 attacks and weakening economies of major markets. The only other year in recent times that has shown negative growth in world tourism was 1982, when international arrivals declined by 0.4%.

"The tragic events of September 11 affected tourism in every region of the world, but even before that we could see a cooling in growth of outbound travel from countries like Germany, Japan and the US during the first eight months of the year," said WTO secretary-general Francesco Frangialli. 

International tourist arrivals totalled 689m in 2001, down from 697m in 2000. WTO estimates that during the first eight months of 2001, arrivals worldwide grew by 3%. But the last four months of 2001 suffered a drop of 11% in arrivals and substantial decreases in every region: Africa (-3.5%); Americas (-24%); East Asia/ Pacific (-10%); Europe (-6%); Middle East (-30%); and South Asia (-24%). 

WTO said that many holidaymakers also chose to travel by car or rail rather than by air. Consequently, tourists visited destinations that were closer to home rather than long-haul destinations and they chose more familiar places. In France, for example, passengers on domestic flights declined by 15% in November, while rail passenger numbers increased by 9% during that same period.

Other events that had a negative impact on the tourism industry last year included the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the UK, Ireland and the Netherlands, which resulted in a drop of 5% to 6% in the first eight months of the year; the strength of the US dollar (which contributed to a 2.5% decline of arrivals to the US for the first nine months).

Meanwhile WTO is forecasting that tourism will pick up its long-term growth pattern by the second half of 2002, as business travel resumes and consumer confidence returns. "The outlook for Easter holiday travel and for the 2002 summer season is positive and will depend mainly on the evolution of the world economy, rather than on the events of September 11," said Frangialli. 

• The full regional highlights of last year's tourism trends will be online soon in a separate TRW feature.