News and Trends

  by  Felix Richter ,  Mar 6, 2024 While few industries were spared by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic over the past three years, even fewer have been hit as hard as the  tourism sector . After Covid-19 had made 2020 " the worst year in tourism history ", international tourist arrivals increased by just 13 percent in 2021, as travel restrictions remained in place for long periods in many parts of the world. Now, nearly four years after the WHO declared Covid-19 a pandemic, optimism has finally returned to the industry. According to the  UNWTO World Tourism Barometer , global tourism continued its recovery in 2023, ending the year at 88 percent of pre-pandemic levels, with an estimated 1.3 billion international tourist arrivals. China's reopening earlier in 2023 had marked another milestone on the road to full recovery, after the region long trailed behind the rest of the world. In the first nine months of 2023, international tourist arrivals in the Asia-Paci...

Booking.com has named its  top trending destinations for 2024  based on the year-on-year growth rate of some of the most booked locations on the platform. At number one, the lesser known Beppu on Kyushu Island in south-west Japan has a wealth of geothermal springs that have earned it the title of Japan’s onsen capital. Beppu is not the only spa capital on the list either, Rotorua in New Zealand is famous for volcanic springs too. Water and relaxation are always popular choices for a getaway, and it is no surprise that ocean-side locations feature heavily on the list. Nevertheless, if you’re looking for a dose of culture, the picturesque European cities of Valkenburg in the Netherlands and Chemnitz in Germany are fantastic hidden gems just waiting to be explored. Thomas Hinton Data Journalist thomas.hinton@statista.com

 

Following the  worst year in tourism history   and a year 2021 that was only marginally better due to the persistent threat posed by Covid-19, 2022 marked the first significant improvement for the global tourism industry. According to the   United Nations World Tourism Organization   (UNWTO), international tourist arrivals reached 66 percent of 2019 levels in 2022, up from 28 and 30 percent, respectively, in 2020 and 2021. In the first seven months of 2023, international travel continued its recovery despite difficult economic circumstances, but remained 16 percent below 2019 levels, as the road to full recovery is proving longer than initially hoped. While a brief rebound in the summer months of 2020 had fueled hopes of a quick recovery for the tourism sector, those hopes were dashed with each subsequent wave of the pandemic. And despite a historically fast global vaccine rollout, travel experts struggled to stay optimistic in 2021, as governments kept many restrict...

  Statista,  Felix Richter ,  Jul 11, 2023 Following a  75 percent drop in outbound travel by UK citizens  in 2020 and an even worse 2021 when just 19 million Britons ventured outside the UK, international tourism rapidly rebounded in 2022. With 71 million visits abroad, outbound travel from UK citizens was at roughly the same level as 2014 last year, while still falling more than 20 percent short of 2019 levels. So with Covid-19 no longer a major concern for the majority of Britons and travel enthusiasm reignited, where do UK citizens like to go on their well-deserved holidays? According to the  ONS , Brits are mostly seeking out sunnier shores when they travel, which isn’t a huge surprise considering that the UK isn’t exactly famous for its beautiful weather, although its beaches are often underestimated. In 2022, 15.6 million UK citizens traveled to Spain, making it by far the most popular destination for  British travelers , who have been known to ...