Confidence in Tourism Sector Improving, UNWTO Says

The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is reporting that confidence in the sector is gradually picking up. It says while international arrivals worldwide are estimated to have declined by seven percent between January and August 2009, the downward trend that started in September last year may have begun to bottom out.

“Arrivals in the two high-season months of July and August declined by three percent compared with a decrease of eight percent in the first half of the year, and data available for September points to a continuation of this upward trend,” the UNWTO says.

It added that the UNWTO Confidence Index is also improving after two periods at a historic low. The more than 330 experts surveyed worldwide by UNWTO confirm that confidence is picking up.

In the latest survey, the percentage of experts with a negative outlook for the next four months has decreased from 62 percent to 42 percent while, for 30 percent of experts, prospects are ‘equal’, and for 28 percent they are ‘better’ or ‘much better’.

“Throughout this year, the world’s tourism industry was faced with a large number of challenges, led by the global economic crisis, the credit crunch and rising unemployment, not to mention the influenza pandemic. Seldom in recorded tourism history has the industry had to contend with so many different issues at the same time,” said UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai.

“However, the negative trend that emerged during the second half of 2008 and intensified in 2009 is starting to show signs of receding.”

As experienced in previous crises, tourism earnings have suffered somewhat more than arrivals as consumers tend to trade down, stay closer to home and travel for shorter periods of time.

Receipts from international tourism are estimated to have contracted in real terms by nine to 10 percent in the first six months of 2009 - that is, one to two percentage points below the decline in international arrivals during that period (-8 percent).