Tourism and Its Current Trends

Tourism and Its Current Trends

This report examines the current trends in global travel and tourism. Many factors will be seen to challenge the travel and tourism industry in the future including the state of the world economy, infectious disease spread as well as other factors that are examined in this report.

"The Future Trends in Tourism- Global Perspectives, the Future of Tourism: A Club of Amsterdam Conference" states that the countries of Switzerland, Austria and Germany are those with the most "attractive environments for developing the travel and tourism industry, according to the very first ranking of its kind in the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2007" published by the World Economic Forum. (2007) The countries that scored as the top ten in the 'Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index' are those stated as follows:

(1) Switzerland

(2) Austria

(3) Germany

(4) Iceland

(5) United States

(6) Hong Kong (SAR)

(7) Canada

5.31

(8) Singapore

5.41

(9) Luxembourg

5.31

(10) United Kingdom

5.28 (World Economic Forum, 2007)

Travel and tourism worldwide in 2005 is stated to have been at the following percentages for each listed region:

(1) Europe

54.8%

(2) Asia and the Pacific

19.3%

(3) Americas

16.6%

(4) Africa

4.6%

(5) Middle East

4.8% (World Economic Forum, 2007)

Stated as the top two tourism locations in Asia are those of China and India with 9.1% and 7.9% respectively in 'Annualized Real Growth' for 2007 through 2017. (World Economic Forum, 2007) The countries projected to realize the largest volume of travel and tourism demand in 2017 are stated to be those as follows:

1. United States

$3,067,977.0

2. China

$1,571,010.0

3. Japan

$981,437.6

4. Germany

$744,910.7

5. United Kingdom

$605,124.6

6. France

$542,658.2

7. Spain

$503,957.5

8. Italy

$395,970.7

9. Russian Federation

$324,352.7

10. Canada

$311,412.6 (World Economic Forum., 2007)

China and India are the two countries expected to generate the largest amount in absolute terms of employment in travel and tourism by the year 2017. Travel and tourism prospects for workers in the future in Europe are somewhat dismal because of the aging population however it is related that the solution being discussed involves that of migrant workers with a projected 80-700 million migrants coming to Europe by 2050. The following illustration shows the global perspectives of the future trends in tourism in regards to future climate change.

Global Map of Climate Change

Source: World Economic Forum, 2007

Dark Blue -- Extreme

Light Blue -- High

Purple -- Mid

Violet -- Low

Gray -- No Data

Tourism is reported to be growing worldwide after several years of slowed growth which is believed to be attributed to the incident of September 11, 2001. Eco-Tourism is one sector experiencing rapid growth because today's tourists desire the 'experience' of travel and do not mind paying more for this. Travelers today are looking for "authenticity, inspiration and rejuvenation" according to the Tourism Alliance (2009). One report states that the United National "is being urged to introduce an international registration system to power Fairtrade Tourism to new levels in sub-Saharan Africa." (Tourism Directory, 2009) This type of system would ensure that fair-trade claims are true when these types of claims are made. All areas of the world are not reporting positive trends in travel and tourism and one such location is the Caribbean due to a downturn in economics. The 2nd UNWTO Conference on Tourism Trends and Outlook for the Asia Pacific Tourism reports "difficult conditions as the global economy deteriorates and Asia and the Pacific, one of the fastest growing tourism regions in the world is strongly feeling the impact of the global slowdown." (Tourism Directory, 2009) Also reported is that the Council of State Tourism Directors reports state tourism office best practices which are based on 40 state tourism office responses to the annual survey. Specific findings include those as follows: (1) While an expanded web presence has produced no incremental reduction in print costs, it has resulted in a dramatic reduction of phone inquiries; and (2) The most prevalent "engagement" metric used appears to be "request for information" (be it print or electronic)." (Travel 2.0, 2009)