World tourism body more confident on 2010 travel figures

Tourism operations around the world can expect travellers to grow, with 2010 to be a much better year as the UNWTO says that it is likely that a "turning point" has already been reached.

Figures which show that international arrivals around the world only dipped 4% in July this year, compared to a year-on-year change of 7% in June and 10% in May, suggests that the trend upwards in traveller numbers is not a one-off occurrence.

The United Nations World Travel Organization (UNWTO) says that for the first seven months of the year 500 million travellers crossed borders, down 7.4% from 540 million in the same period of 2008.

"Though much uncertainty persists, there are signs indicating that the turning point may also have been reached in the tourism sector," says the UNWTO in a statement.

"As the latest economic data and prospects indicate that the world economy may be starting to emerge from its most severe recession of the post second world war period, in tourism too there are signs that confidence is returning and that demand is improving for both business and leisure travel," comments Taleb Rifai, UNWTO Secretary-General.

The IMF recently also upwardly revised its macroeconomic forecasts.  And initial data from August show that the high season month has not been "as depressed" as the January to June period.

While the UNWTO is still finalising its forecasts for 2010, it is expected that it will be better than the 4-6% drop in international tourist numbers expected this year.