2012 to Break World Tourism Records
Recent CNN Travel coverage of the United Nation's World Trade Organization's most recent tourism update covered the international tourism statistics released by the organization - including the prediction that the first billion tourists benchmark will occur for the first time by the end of 2012. There's already been over 705 million tourist arrivals globally this year, over half of them in Europe which remains the most popular travel region. The financial worth of all that travel? Over $1 trillion U.S.
Other key findings in the report:
- France is the most popular destination, followed by the U.S.
- The three top grossing nations in terms of tourism receipts are the U.S., Spain and France.
- German tourists are still spending the most, hitting US$84 billion for 2011.
- China had the highest tourism growth from last year, at 18 percent, and its travelers spent US$73 billion.