International tourism, prospects for development

BYCHKOVA ALESYA

ROSTOV STATE UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS

INTERNATIONAL TOURISM, PROSPECTS FOR DEVELOPMENT

Nowadays, international tourism is the biggest and fastest developing industry in the world.

. Tourism has been identified by more than half of the world’s poorest countries as an effective mean taking part in the global economy and reduce poverty. The issue includes statistical investigations and prospects of development of the international tourism for the future.

Keywords : International tourism, economy, results, prospects,

statistical investigations.

International tourism is the biggest industry in the world. Tourism has been identified by more than half of the world’s poorest countries as an effective mean taking part in the global economy and reduce poverty.

Such development of international tourism connections entailed the creation of numerous international organizations, which help to improve this sphere of international trade.
Tourism is become a major, if not the main, source of growth, employment, income and revenue for many of the world’s developing countries. The sector is currently the first or second source of export earnings in 20 of the 48 Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and is demonstrating steady growth in at least 10 others.

Figure 1. 2010: Multi-speed recovery[1]

International tourism recovered strongly in 2010, from the blow it suffered due to the global financial crisis and economic recession. International tourist arrivals were up by almost 7% to 935 million, following the exceptional 4% decline in 2009. However, recovery came at different speeds and was primarily driven by emerging economies. Worldwide, the number of international tourist arrivals reached 935 million, up 58 million from 2009(877 million) and 22 million more than the pre-crisis peak level of 2008(913 million).

As such, tourism has become one of the main engines of socioeconomic progress for many countries and a development priority for a majority of the LDCs.

International tourism developed in the world is extremely uneven, which is primarily due to different levels of socio-economic development of countries and regions. International tourism received the greatest development in western European countries. The share of this region accounts for over 70% of the global tourism market and about 60% of foreign exchange earnings. Approximately 20% are American, less than 10% - in Asia, Africa and Australia combined

Figure 2. The share of tourism in world economies.

Under the forecast of the WTO, in the XXI century tourist boom is expected. The number of travelers in the world will approach 1.6 billion by 2020.

International tourism demand held up well in 2010, despite persistent economic uncertainty in some major markets, the natural disasters suffered in some countries, political, and social unrest in others, the serious disruption of air travel following a volcanic eruption in Iceland and the problematic weather conditions in some parts of Europe and the USA in December.

2010 also saw the rise in importance of mega-events – sport, culture, and exhibitions - in terms of their extraordinary ability to attract visitors and position host countries as attractive tourism destinations. Notable examples include the Winter Olympics in Canada, the Shanghai Expo in China, the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, and the Commonwealth Games in India.

Confirming these trends, over 300 experts from around the globe who constitute the UNWTO Panel of Experts evaluated 2010’s overall performance very positively and much above their expectations at the beginning of the year. The panel maintained this positive outlook for 2011.

Table 3. Growth to continue in 2011[2]

2010	2011
World World	+ 6,7%	4% - 5%
Europe	+3,2%	2% - 4%
Asia and the Pacific	+12,6%	7% - 9%
Americas	+7,7%	4% - 6%
Africa	+ 6,4%	4% - 7%
Middle East	+13,9%	7% - 10%

Following a year of global recovery in 2010, the growth continued for the tourism sector in 2011 but at a slower pace. UNWTO forecasts international tourist arrivals to grow at between 4% to 5% in 2011, a rate slightly above the long-term average.

Nowadays, traveling is not just a pleasure, fun or luxury but it turns into integral part of modern life, associated with the satisfaction of the spiritual, intellectual and other needs, rehabilitation and development of physical powers of man, supporting the necessary level of its activity.

Graph4. Actual trend tourism 2020 vision Forecast world[3]