Global Tourism Destinations: A Comprehensive Report

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GLOBAL TOURISM DESTINATIONS

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................3
LO1 SCALE AND NATURE OF GLOBAL TOURISM.......................................................................4
LO2 GROWTH AND CHARACTERISTICS OF KEY EMERGING MARKETS AND DESTINATION
REGIONS................................................................................................................................... 8
LO3 ROLES OF KEY ORGANISATIONS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF GLOBAL TOURISM..............10
LO4 THREATS, ISSUES AND CHALLENGES TO THE FUTURE DEVELOPMENT OF GLOBAL
TOURISM................................................................................................................................ 13
CONCLUSION.......................................................................................................................... 16
REFERENCES........................................................................................................................... 17

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INTRODUCTION
The global tourism is considered as the largest scale for movement of people, goods and
services. Tourism acts as a catalyst for ensuring sociopolitical changes and economic
development. This report has been prepared with the objective of determining the
characteristics, nature and the global trends within the global tourism industry. The report
would discuss the scale and nature of global tourism, the growth and characteristics of the
key emerging markets and destination regions, role of key organizations in the development
of global tourism and also the issues, threats and challenges which would act as a barrier in
the future development of the global tourism.

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LO1 SCALE AND NATURE OF GLOBAL TOURISM
In 2017, international tourism has experienced the highest growth in the past seven years.
This growth can be attributed to numerous factors the major factor being the strong
recovery of the destinations which are suffering from several security challenges (Benjamin
and Bassey, 2019). The strong outbound demand from the major tourist destinations is
resulting in an economic upswing for the global tourism industry.
Figure 1 International tourism arrival and receipts
(Source: UNWTO Tourism Highlights, 2018)
The above figure depicts that the international tourist’s arrivals have increased by 7% in the
year 2017, and have reached to 1,326 million. This has led to total receipts of USD 1340
billion from tourist activities. This has increased by 5% as compared to the previous year.
Figure 2 Global share in arrival and receipts

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(Source: UNWTO Tourism Highlights, 2018)
The above figure has depicted that the largest share in the global arrivals was from Europe
which accounted for 51%. However, the share of revenues from Europe was only 39%. In
contrast to this, it is evident that despite the lower share in arrivals for Americas and the
Asia Pacific by 16% and 24% respectively, there share in the overall receipts is substantially
high and account for 24% and 29% respectively.
Figure 3 Mode of transport (2017)
(Source: UNWTO Tourism Highlights, 2018)
In the global tourism industry, tourists have adopted several means of transportation for
commutation purposes. The air transport has been widely adopted by tourists for travelling
from one place to another. The air transport is used in global tourism from travelling from
one country or continent to another (Benjamin and Bassey, 2019). Also, road transport is a
major source of transportation in the global tourism industry accounting for 37%. This
source of transportation is widely accepted for local and national tourism activities.

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Figure 4 Purpose of visit – 2017
(Source: UNWTO Tourism Highlights, 2018)
In recent studies by the world tourism organization, it is evident that the majority of the
tourism activities (55%) were undertaken with the major objective of leisure, recreation and
holidays among others. Also, 27% of the tourist activities were with the objective of visiting
relatives and friends, religious and health purposes and others.
Figure 5 Tourism contributions
(Source: UNWTO Tourism Highlights, 2018)
Global tourism has contributed significantly to the growth of the global economy. The
tourism industry is driving the economic growth of all countries with tourist destinations
(Lyon and Wells, 2012).. The tourism industry is also generating huge job opportunities and

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providing employment. In the global exports, 7% of the exports account for the tourism
activities and also 30% of the service exports are from the tourism industry.
Figure 6 International Tourist Arrivals (in Million)
(Source: UNWTO Tourism Highlights, 2018)
In the year 2017, a total of 1326 million international tourist arrivals were recorded all
across the globe. This accounted to 86 million more than that accounted in the year 2016.
This was majorly driven by the increasing demand for travel to certain destinations all across
the world, including the recovery of travel destinations which were impacted by the security
challenges. The growth of the international tourist arrivals and the revenues was also driven
by the growth of the global economy, thereby resulting in a strong outbound demand from
virtually all the market sources (Lyon and Wells, 2012).

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LO2 GROWTH AND CHARACTERISTICS OF KEY EMERGING MARKETS
AND DESTINATION REGIONS
The emerging economies have captured an increased share in the overall global
international arrivals. With this, their share has become comparable to that of the advanced
economies. The international tourist arrivals across the globe have increased substantially.
In the global tourist arrivals, 55% share was from the advanced economies, while the
remaining 45% of the share came from the emerging economies. In contrast to the lower
market share, it is evident that the emerging economies are experiencing a higher average
annual growth accounting for 4.8% as compared to the 3.7% annual growth of the advanced
economies (Fernandes, 2011).
Figure 7 International Tourist arrivals
(Source: UNWTO Tourism Highlights, 2018)
The developing economies of Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, eastern and central
Europe are being considered as the major source markets for global tourism internationally.
They have shown potentially high growth over the years owing to the rising level of
disposable income. In Europe, the southern Mediterranean region is considered as the
developing region and is experiencing recovery in arrivals and receipts owing to the
recovery of destinations such as turkey and also several other emerging and traditional
destinations (Fernandes, 2011). The Asia Pacific region is considered to possess the largest
number of developing economies. The tourism growth of this region is can be attributed to
several factors such as the increase in the purchasing power of the people, increased
instances of the air connectivity, adoption of enhanced visa facilitation and also the increase
in the availability of affordable travel (Benjamin and Bassey, 2019).

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The global tourism industry is also largely impacted by the influence of affluent travellers
from the emerging market. They have an impact owing to travel investments and spending.
In studies, it is evident that the emerging affluent tend to spend more during the travel as
compared to traditional travellers. There increased spending is majorly focused on making
purchases at the retail outlets (Lyon and Wells, 2012). Due to the increased spending by
travellers in the emerging destinations, there is an increase in the overall benefits for the
high-end retailers who have focused their spending's on luxury goods from this market.
The travellers from emerging destinations tend to have a significant impact on the shape of
infrastructure development and travel destinations. The emerging destinations are also a
driving factor of air travel. In a report produced by IATA, it was shown that the air traffic has
increased by 6-7% in the emerging economies of Asia Pacific region owing to the increased
tourism activities (Thomas and Burgess, 2015). The emerging destinations are also focusing
on the development of airports.
Within the developing economies, the leading global hotel brands are focusing on the
increased use of social networking and mobile devices for promotion purposes. The use of
servicing within the travel industry is expected to attract a large number of customers and
thus would have unique opportunities of standing out and establishing themselves within
the market (Cook, 2015).
Also, it can be said that the huge growth of the emerging economies is expected to shape
the travel industries in the near future. The companies operating within the travel industry
of the emerging economies must shift their focus towards the developing economies and
also enhance and modify their business models accordingly for staying competitive within
the tourism industry (Martín, 2015). Along with this, the tourism industry within the
developing economies would also be shaped by the ongoing infrastructural development
within the region.

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LO3 ROLES OF KEY ORGANISATIONS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF
GLOBAL TOURISM
The global tourism comprises of several organizations at the international and national level
along with the non-government organizations. These organizations are majorly established
with the objective of developing and managing tourism activities (Cook, 2015). The
organizations in the tourism industry play a major role in contributing to the smooth
functioning of the industry. The major organizations and their key role within the industry is
as follows:
The World Tourism Organization
The world tourism organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations. In the year
2006, the organization was renamed as United Nation World Tourism Organization. This
organization plays a key role in promoting the overall development of the sustainable,
responsible and universally accessible tourism (Who we are, 2018).
This agency serves as a practical source of the tourism know-how and also provides a global
forum for tourism policy issues. The organization is engaged in conducting several research
studies within the tourism market and also organizing seminars on issues such as
infrastructure development, and tourism marketing which is being shared by numerous
countries (Baum, 2015). The organization is also responsible for collecting, analyzing and
disseminating information on various aspects of tourism including special events, legislation,
regulations and also statistical facilities. One of the major responsibilities of the organization
also accounts for preparation of the draft for international tourism agreements(Who we are,
2018).
International air transport association

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The international air transport association is the first international scheduled services all
across the globe. This organization is very closely related to the international civil aviation
organization and facilitates the planning of international timetable at the global level (About
us, 2019). The association has also been highly successful in formulating a single formula for
airway bills and tickets.
The major responsibility of the organization is to ensure that the shipping and travel
processes are simplified and the overall costs of the operation are low. This organization
serves as an intermediary between the passengers, cargo agents and also the airline's
operators (Forsythe et al., 2016). The organization is also responsible for providing expert
solutions to the airline's operators, which is helpful in regulating the legal questions and
developing enhanced security measures. The organization also provides training to freight
and travel agents which helps them in operating securely, economically, efficiently and
securely (About us, 2019).
United Federation of Travel Agents Association
The united federation of the travel agents association is formed with the merger of two
established world organization namely IFTA and UOTAA. The association has been
established in Rome. The activities of the association are aimed at offering all the members
with technical and professional advice, necessary material and also providing the members

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with necessary assistance which would enable them to establish themselves in the world
tourism economy (About UFTAA, 2019).
The organization is majorly held responsible for representing the activities of the travel
agents before the government authorities and the world bodies. It aims to promote and
enhance the interest of members by consolidating and uniting the federation of national
travel agents association. The association assists the travel association by its education
committee and also aims as opposing legislation which has an adverse effect on the tourism
(About UFTAA, 2019). Thus, it can be said that the association acts as an investigation and
information centre.
Pacific Asia travel association
The Pacific Asia travel association is a nonprofit entity which has its focus on the
opportunities within the member countries of the travel industry and also developing its
awareness amongst the travel trade (Hall and Page, 2016). The main objective of this
organization is to develop, promote and facilitate travel within the South East Asian Region
and the Pacific Areas.
This association is aimed at assisting the emerging travel destinations in developing their
infrastructure and also providing them with the required practical assistance and
information in the field of tourism. The association also acts as a central source of guidelines
and travel information (Hall and Page, 2016). The association also facilitates the members in
undertaking marketing activities. As a major activity, the organization organizes an annual
travel mart.
American Society of Travel Agents