аIJʿª½±

Tourism Watch Quarterly Report: Q1 2024

Tourism nears a full recovery

• Global Overview: In the first quarter of 2024, tourism arrivals grew 20 percent compared to 2023, boosted by improvements in air connectivity, visa facilitation, and decreasing airfares as well as a continuing post-pandemic recovery. Tourism contributed an estimated 3 percent to global GDP in 2023, reaching pre-pandemic levels for the first time. Travel prospects remain promising, with a full recovery expected this year despite macroeconomic, geopolitical, and climate-related headwinds.
• Regional Overview: The East Asia Pacific region continues to drive global growth as it catches up from a slow pandemic recovery. All regions have experienced double-digit year-on-year growth in estimated aviation passenger arrivals other than Africa East, which registered a 7 percent y/y increase. This includes The Middle East and North Africa, where overall growth remains strong amidst an ongoing conflict.
•  Special Policy Insert: Applying a Circular Economy (CE) approach to the tourism sector can help mitigate tourism¡¯s environmental impacts, such as increased waste, and shortages of water and power. This insert showcases tools and examples for incorporating CE into the tourism sector, including into аIJʿª½± projects.

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      First Quarter 2024

Tourism Watch ¨C a product of the Tourism Group within the Markets, Competition and Technology Unit of the аIJʿª½± ¨C provides up-to-date data from an array of sources along with analysis of recent tourism developments.

About the Tourism Watch series

The Tourism Watch is a quarterly report produced by the аIJʿª½± which monitors global and regional tourism sector performance, outlook, and highlights policies aimed at enhancing the sector¡¯s economic, social and environmental outcomes for developing economies and destinations. The series relies on real-time aviation data, official tourism statistics, consumer search trends, broader economic indicators, and other key data sources to provide a perspective on how tourism is affected by and contributing to global developments.

Past editions