Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 1.3
Percentage share of international tourist arrivals by region, 1960-2012
Africa
Americas
Asia & Pacifi c
Europe
M. East
1960
1.1
24.1
1.4
72.6
0.9
1970
1.5
25.5
3.8
68.2
1.1
1980
2.6
21.6
8.2
65.6
2.1
1990
3.3
20.4
12.7
61.6
2.2
1995
3.6
19.8
15.6
58.6
2.5
2000
4.0
18.6
16.8
57.1
3.5
2005
4.6
16.6
19.2
54.8
4.7
2006
4.9
16.0
19.7
54.6
4.8
2007
4.9
15.8
20.4
53.6
5.3
2008
4.9
16.1
20.1
52.9
6.0
2009
5.2
15.9
20.5
52.3
6.0
2010
5.2
15.9
21.7
50.7
6.4
2011
5.0
15.7
21.9
51.9
5.5
2012
5.1
15.8
22.6
51.6
5.0
Source: Adapted from UNWTO (2008b, 2011e;, 2013b).
Other significant regions include North America, with major flows between
Canada and the USA and between the USA and the Caribbean, and the Asia
Pacific region (Table 1.3). It should be noted that Asia and Pacific figures are
based on combined data from regions previously referred to by the UNWTO
as East Asia and Pacific (EAP) and South Asia. As a result, international tour-
ism contributes most, in an economic sense, to those countries or regions
that least require it.
However, the significant tourist flows within the developed world are
also evidence of the potential contribution to development in industrialised
countries, particularly in deprived urban areas or peripheral rural regions. In
Ireland, for example, the government established its 'Programme for National
Recovery' in 1987, the aim of which was to create 25,000 jobs and to attract
an additional IR£500 million in tourist expenditure through doubling the
number of overseas arrivals over a five-year period (Hannigan, 1994; Hurley
et al.
, 1994). The success of this policy led to a further tourism-related devel-
opment policy for the period 1994-1999, during which another 35,000 jobs
were expected to be created.
Tourism redistributes wealth
Both internationally and domestically, tourism is seen as an effective
means of transferring wealth and investment from richer, developed coun-
tries or regions to less developed, poorer areas. This redistribution of wealth
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