UNWTO Expects Staggering 1.8 Billion International Tourists by 2030

UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai

Emphasising the significance of tourism as a major driver of new socio-economic model, UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai, at the New Economy Forum said that UNWTO expect a staggering 1.8 billion international tourists by 2030.

“In 1950, 25 million tourists travelled internationally. Last year that number hit one billion: one billion international tourists travelling the world in a single year. Around five billion more travelled domestically within their own countries.  At UNWTO we forecast this number to continue to rise. We expect a staggering 1.8 billion international tourists by 2030. Never before have so many people travelled to so many places.  Few places on the planet have escaped the curiosity of the traveller and few are now unreachable,” said Taleb Rifai.

He added, “These tourists generate over US$ 1 trillion in exports for the countries they visits, close to 6% of the world’s exports of goods and services, and 30% of exports if we consider services alone. One in every 12 jobs worldwide is connected to the tourism sector.” 

Our world has been fundamentally transformed over the past  decades. It is commonplace to say we  now  live in a globalized world  – a complex, interlocking and independent network across which  flows of  goods,  capital,  ideas,  information and now people move faster than ever before.

This process of globalization has behind it a number of forces which are not simply outcomes of a more globalized world, but  its very drivers. First: information technology and telecommunications.  The “IT Revolution” has allowed us to communicate and process information in  digital form  and  in real time  like never before; quite simply transforming our lives.

Second: migratory trends. The “Age of Mobility” has seen millions traveling  in their own countries and across  borders in pursuit of  opportunity. The world is fast becoming urban, with over half the world’s population now living in urban areas. By 2030 this number will swell to almost 5 billion.

These are  two  long-term trends that have not been diminished by the global economic crisis. In fact, the opportunities created by technology and mobility  have not slowed and suggest the world economy can again be set on a prosperous path. But there is yet another powerful “mega-trend” of globalization  at play in this new world which often goes unnoticed, despite the fact that it involves nearly the entire  global population and brings our world to a screeching halt whenever it is disrupted: