- According to the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), International tourist arrivals hit record high in 2017 with India leading the growth in South Asian region.
- According to data released by UNWTO, a total of 1,323 million international tourist arrivals recorded in destinations around the world. It is an 84 million increase over 2016, and a new record.
- International tourism receipts increased by 5% in 2017. In addition to the US$ 1.3 trillion in receipts that destinations earned, international tourism generated another US$ 240 billion from international passenger transport taken by non-residents. This raised total tourism exports to US$ 1.6 trillion, or US$ 4 billion a day, which corresponds to 7% of the world’s exports.
- In 2017 Spain rose to become the world’s second most-visited destination in terms of international arrivals, after France.
- With US$ 1.6 trillion receipt in 2017, tourism became the world’s third-largest export sector.
- China continues to lead global outbound travel, having spent US$ 258 billion on international tourism in 2017. This is almost one-fifth of the world’s total tourism spending in 2017, which stood at US$ 1.3 trillion, some US$ 94 billion more than in 2016.
- In India, international tourists arrivals grew from 14.57 million in 2016 to 15.54 million in 2017. International tourism receipts for India grew from 22.42 billion dollars in 2016 to 27.36 billion dollars last year.
- Europe and Africa led the regions with increases in arrivals, with growth of eight per cent and nine per cent, respectively.
- Destination country for international tourists
- France 86.9 million
- Spain 81.8 million
- USA 75.9 million
- China 60.7 million
- Italy 58.3 million
- Receipts from the arrival of international tourists
- USA: 210.7 billion dollars
- Spain : 68.0 billion dollars
- France: 60.7 billion dollars
- Thailand: 57.5 billion billion dollars
- UK: 51.2 billion dollars
