United Nations Radio

World tourism will stagnate in 2009, with numbers dropping by as much as two per cent as the global economic downturn takes hold.

world tourism

According to the UN World Tourism Organization (WTO), it "expects 2009 international tourism to be in a range of zero to two per cent decline."
The UN agency says in a statement from its Madrid headquarters that "along with the Americas, Europe will be the most affected region in terms of overall tourism results as most of its source markets are already in or entering into a recession."
But the organization's deputy secretary-general Taleb Rifai says the two percent prediction could be widened, adding that they "expect the results to be geographically mixed", with the Americas doing slightly better than Europe, but not as good as Africa, the Middle East or Asia regions.
The World Tourism Organization says in the first six months of 2008, arrivals grew by five percent before decreasing by one percent in the second half when the global financial crisis, unemployment and recession became major concerns.
The organization predicts the tourism industry will rebound in four years.

This is Donn Bobb reporting for United Nations Radio.
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