COMCEC Tourism Outlook-2018
13
Middle East 12.7 58.2 57.6 67.8 5.1
Source: UNWTO, Tourism Highlights 2002&2013&2017&2018 Edition
In Europe, international tourism receipts grew by 1% in real terms to US$ 511 billion,
representing 38% of worldwide receipts. Individual destinations had mixed results for 2016
while Iceland, Norway, Ireland, Georgia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania, Portugal, Spain,
Cyprus and Malta reported double digit growth some important destinations such as Turkey,
France and Belgium recorded declines, because of terrorist attacks and security concerns. The
preliminary data on 2017 and 2018 shows stronger growth indicators globally as shown in table
3.3.
Figure 0.5 Tourism Receipts by Region (2000-2017)
Source: UNWTO, Tourism Highlights 2013 & 2017 Edition
Accounting for 29% of international receipts, in 2017, Asia-Pacific region earned US$ 390 billion
in international tourism receipts, this means an increase of 4% in real terms compared to 2016.
According to the UNWTO (2018a); Americas, accounts for 25% of international tourism receipts
worldwide, and increased its tourism receipts by 1% in real terms to US$313 billion.
Based on 2017 data, parallel to its growth in arrivals Africa experienced a strong rebound in
receipts as well. Receiving 38 billion USD in 2017 the region enjoyed an increase of 8% in real
terms compared to 2016.
International tourism receipts in Middle East grew by almost 13% to 68 billion US$ in 2017.
Strong recovery of Egypt and robust results in other major destinations lead to larger growth
rates.
Africa
2%
America
s
28%
Asia/
Pacific
18%
Europe
49%
Middle
East
3%
2000
Africa
3%
America
s
25%
Asia/
Pacific
29%
Europe
38%
Middle
East
5%
2017