The reports of World Tourism Organisation (WTO), which covers 185, destination countries divided in 10 regions, for its data clearly presents the existing pattern of global tourism and visualizes the future trends as discussed hereunder:
People in general now view tourism as a way of life rather than a luxury items reserved for the affluent and the elite. Tourism has emerged as the largest service industry globally, in terms of gross revenue, as well as foreign exchange earnings.
According to the World Tourism Organisation (WTO), the number of international travellers has risen to more than 700 million per annum. With rapid developments in the field of transport and communications, the global’ tourism industry is likely to double in the next decade.
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Tourism is the industry of industries and has a great multiplier effect on other industries. Tourism serves as an effective medium for transfer or distribution of wealth because here income earned in places of “residence” is spent in places “visited”.
WTO forecasts that international arrivals in the year 2010 will top on billion and that by 2020 it will reach 1.6 billion nearly three times the number of international trips made in 1996 which was 592 million.
The 21st century will see a higher percentage of the total population travelling, especially in developing countries, and people will be going on holiday more often. Travellers of the 21st century will also be going farther.
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The “Tourism 2020 Vision” forecasts predict that by 2020, one out of every three trips will be long haul journeys to another region of the world.
Tourism is the highest generator of employment. A total of 250 million people are now being employed globally through direct and indirect opportunities generated by this industry. This means that one out of every eight persons now earns a living from tourism.
Tourism is also highly employment intensive. For every million rupees of investment, 13 jobs are created in the manufacturing industries, 45 jobs in agriculture, and 89 jobs in hotels and restaurants.
Tourism is therefore considered to be an important area for intensive development for all governments. As the fastest growing foreign exchange earner in developed and developing countries, it is being given priority attention.