According to an estimate published Monday by UN Tourism, 1.4 billion tourists took a trip abroad last year, or 11% more than in 2023. This figure is identical to that of 2019, the last year before the pandemic.
This dynamic was accompanied by a sharp increase in tourism revenue, which reached 1,600 billion dollars, or 3% more than in 2023 and 4% more than in 2019, taking into account inflation and fluctuations in exchange rates.
“In 2024, global tourism has completed its post-pandemic recovery,” said UN Tourism Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili in a press release, reporting figures “higher than those of 2019” in many regions.
In Europe, the world's leading tourist destination, 747 million international arrivals were recorded, thanks to strong intra-regional demand. This is “5% more than in 2023” and “1% more than in 2019”, underlines the agency.
The number of international travelers has also increased significantly in the Middle East (+32% compared to its pre-pandemic level, thanks to the popularity of Qatar and Saudi Arabia), but also in North Africa (+22 %) and Central America (+17%).
– +3 to 5% expected in 2025 –
According to the agency responsible for promoting tourism in the world, Asia-Pacific is the region which experienced the largest increase in attendance over one year in 2024 (+33%), thanks to the total lifting of health restrictions in China.
But international tourist arrivals (316 million) remained below their pre-pandemic level, underlines the agency, formerly known as the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
Before the pandemic, China was the leading provider of international tourists in the world (154 million). The Chinese were also those who spent the most, with 255 billion dollars spent, or 17% of global tourism spending.
According to UN Tourism, the consolidation of the recovery in this region of the world should allow a further increase in the number of international trips in 2025, of the order of “3 to 5%” compared to 2024.
-“This initial projection assumes that economic conditions remain favorable, that inflation continues to decline and that geopolitical conflicts do not worsen,” specifies the agency, for which the sector remains faced with numerous “challenges”.
– “Immense responsibility” –
The increase in attendance has sparked tensions in many countries in recent months, such as Japan and Spain, the second largest destination in the world behind France, which welcomed 94 million tourists, a record.
The concentration of visitors in a limited number of tourist sites leads to congestion problems but also to a surge in housing prices, with many owners preferring to rent at a high price to tourists.
In this context, several cities have introduced restrictions, such as Venice (Italy), which has established paid periods for day visits, or Kyoto (Japan), which will significantly increase its tourist taxes, or Barcelona.
Beyond these localized movements of anger, it is the environmental impact of this mass tourism which is worrying: according to a study published in December in Nature, greenhouse gas emissions linked to tourism are in fact increasing today. twice as fast as those in the rest of the economy.
Faced with this situation, the authors of the study propose tackling demand and reducing tourist flows, in particular by targeting aviation (increase in ticket prices, reduction in the number of flights, etc.)
Without commenting directly on these subjects, UN Tourism considers it necessary in its press release to “place people and the planet at the center of tourism development”, a sector having according to the agency an “immense responsibility”.
