UNWTO announces 4-pct rise in world tourism receipts in 2012
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E-mail Xinhua, May 15, 2013
The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) on Wednesday confirmed that the receipts from international tourism around the world grew by 4 percent during 2012.
The total amount of receipts rose to 1,075 billion U.S. dollars from 2011's total of 1,042 billion, with the increase in receipts matching the 4 percent rise in international tourist arrivals to 1,035 million during last year.
From his organizations' head office in the Spanish capital of Madrid, UNWTO Secretary General Taleb Rifai greeted the news with satisfaction, highlighting that fact that the increase in receipts had come at a time when part of the world is still suffering the effects of the economic crisis.
"Considering that tourism is a key export for many economies around the world, this result is good news as it provides foreign reserves to destinations, and contributes to job creation in tourism as well as in related economic sectors," he said.
This is borne out by the fact that international tourism makes up 30 percent of the world's exports and services and 6 percent of overall exports of goods and services.
The largest increase in receipts came from the Americas, where there was a 7-percent rise.
This was followed by Asia and the Pacific, where the 6-percent increase came partly as a result of the continued rise in popularity of China as an international tourist destination.
Meanwhile, there was a 5-percent improvement in Africa and 2 percent in Europe, which still registered the biggest earnings, which totaled 457 billion dollars, 43 percent of the world total.
There was, however, a 2-percent drop in the Middle East, but the figures there are encouraging after the political turmoil in the region in 2011.
The top-10 international tourist destinations in terms of receipts in the world have little change with the United States the most popular destination. Endi
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