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In a recent chat with retailing tycoon Henry Sy Sr.,
he told me tourism is the growth industry of the future. His biggest
investments are not in retailing nor banking. It is tourism. He is
right.
World travel has increased 20
percent in the last three years and created 150 million additional
visitors. The annual growth in travel since 1950 has been seven
percent; the annual rise in revenues from arrivals is 11 percent,
better than the growth rate of the world economy.
Tourism receipts reached $680
billion in 2005, making it one of the largest categories of
international trade.
International arrivals hit 842
million in 2006, up 5.25 percent from the record 800 million in
2005, according to the World Tourism Organization of the United
Nations.
“World tourism has entered into
a historically new phase of growth, which began three years ago. In
2005, it broke through the 800-million mark. Last year’s reached
842 million.
“This new phase is
characterized by a more solid and more responsible type of
growth,” says WTO Secretary-General Francesco Frangialli.
Africa registered the strongest
growth, the same as in 2005.
Asia-Pacific and Latin America
also posted outstanding results and the Middle East proved
remarkably resilient in spite of the upheavals being experienced by
the region.
The strong and sustained rise of
tourism over the past 50 years is one of the most remarkable
phenomena of our time, according to WTO’s Frangialli.
Despite recent crises, some of
which hurt tourist movements, travel continues to grow steadily:
• Arrivals have risen from 25
million in 1950 to 842 million in 2006; this rise is equivalent to
an average annual growth of about 7 percent over a long period.
• The revenues generated by
these arrivals—not including airline ticket sales and revenues
from domestic tourism—have risen by 11 percent a year (adjusted
for inflation) over the same span of time. This outstrips that
growth rate of the world economy.
• International tourism
receipts reached US$680 billion in 2005), making it one of the
largest categories of international trade.
• Depending on the year, this
trade volume equals or exceeds that of oil exports, that of food
products, or even that of cars and transport equipment.
• Tourism, taken in the narrow
sense, represents one quarter of all exports of services–40
percent if we include air transport.
• Its share of direct foreign
investment flows, though still limited, has increased spectacularly
between 1990 and 2005.
Tourism is a strong contributor
to the balance of payments, as well as a highly labor-intensive
activity that opens up opportunities for the small businesses that
provide products and services to the tourism industry.
Tourism’s impact is
particularly strong in the local farming and fishing industries, handicrafts
and even the construction industry. In these countries, tourism
creates many direct and indirect jobs.
Tourism represents fertile ground
for private initiative. It serves as a foothold for the development
of a market economy where small- and medium-sized enterprises can
expand and flourish. In poor rural areas, it often constitutes the
only alternative to declining subsistence farming.
• International tourism
receipts for developing countries (low income, lower and upper
middle income countries) will soon pass more than US$250 billion.
• Tourism is one of the major
export sectors of poor countries and a leading source of foreign
exchange in 46 of the 49 Least Developed Countries.
Favorable climatic conditions at
destinations are key attractions for tourists, especially in beach
destinations, which are still the dominating form of tourism.
Mountain tourism or winter sports are also highly dependent on
specific climate and weather conditions.
The Times reported that Gloria
Arroyo’s birthday is April 4. I still think it is April 5.
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