In Morocco, tourists increased by 34% between 2019 and 2024.Image: Shutterstock
Last year, global tourism returned to pre-Covid levels. This growth was not the same everywhere: in some countries, the number of vacationers increased significantly compared to 2019.
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The pandemic has dealt a near-fatal blow to tourism. In April 2020, the number of people going on holiday abroad fell by 90% compared to the same month the previous year. The recovery has been slow: the sector only returned to its pre-Covid level in 2024.
Last year, 1.4 billion vacationers took a trip abroad, according to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). This corresponds to an increase of 11% compared to 2023 and 99% of arrivals recorded in 2019.
In absolute terms, Europe remains the busiest continent, accounting for more than half of global vacationers, or 747 million people. France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom were among the ten most visited countries in the world last year.
However, Europe does not show the greatest growth. It welcomed approximately the same number of tourists as in 2019 (+1%). In other regions, on the other hand, the flow of vacationers has literally explodedfar exceeding the pre-Covid level.
This is the case in the Middle East, where the number of tourists increased by 34% compared to 2019. In North Africa, the increase was 23%, while Central America recorded an increase of 17 %. Southern Europe (+8%) and the Caribbean (+7%) also experienced strong growth.
-The full data available shows that several countries showed double-digit growth compared to 2019:
- El Salvador: +81%
- Saudi Arabia: +69%
- Ethiopia: +40%
- Morocco: +35%
- Guatemala: +33%
- Dominican Republic: +32%
Egypt (+23%) and Barbados (+18%), as well as Chile, Japan and Jordan (+16% each), also showed a strong increase.
Other countries, for which complete annual data are not available, also benefited from strong growth until October or November 2024, compared to the same ten or eleven months of 2019: this is Qatar ( +137%), Albania (+80%), Colombia (+37%), Andorra (+35%), Malta and Serbia (+29% each).
Elsewhere around the world, some countries saw tourist numbers fall compared to 2019. The destinations with the biggest losses, for which full data is known, are:
- Israel: -79%
- Burma: -45%
- Ecuador: -40%
- Philippines: -34%
- Peru: -26%
- Azerbaijan: -17%
Several countries with negative values are currently facing war, such as Israel and Burma, or are near conflict regions. This is the case of Latvia (-19%) or Estonia (-18%).
In Central and Eastern Europe, many destinations are still suffering from the lingering effects of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, notes the UNWTO.
In general, estimates the UNWTO Secretary General, “growth should continue throughout 2025”. The UN agency expects the number of tourists to increase by 3 to 5% compared to 2024.
