LONDON, Jan 24 — After coming to a standstill at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic with the closure of borders, international tourism was firmly back on the agenda in 2024. So much so that many destinations saw record visitor numbers, even higher than pre-pandemic levels, in 2019.
From PCR tests to hotel quarantines to compulsory vaccination, the travel restrictions of the pandemic seem to belong to another time, and yet it wasn’t until 2024 that international tourism really turned the page on this historic episode that brought the entire sector to a standstill.
While the GBTA (Global Business Travel Association) Travel Index has predicted a return to normal for business travel by 2026, leisure travel has quickly regained its place in the mainstream.
With no fewer than 1.4 billion international tourist arrivals recorded around the world last year, according to UN Tourism, 2024 “marked the recovery of international tourism from the worst crisis in the sector’s history.”
In recent days, various tourist boards have been sharing their record-breaking visitor numbers for 2024.
Such is the case of Ras Al Khaimah, the northernmost of the emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates, which is banking heavily on tourism to boost its economic growth.
This emirate of less than 1,700 sq km welcomed 1.28 million travellers in 2024, but the destination’s development authority has reiterated Ras Al Khaimah’s ambition to go beyond this, welcoming more than 3.5 million visitors a year by 2030.
Already spotted by CNN Travel as one of its places to visit in 2023, the emirate is hoping to set itself apart from the skyscrapers of Dubai and the Louvre in Abu Dhabi by offering exotic journeys focused on escapism and nature.
Meanwhile, Japan has stepped up its announcements and measures to prevent overtourism, including the introduction of a quota for hikers setting out to conquer Mount Fuji via the most popular trail.
Indeed, its tourism figures confirm Japan’s appeal to foreign visitors.
No fewer than 36.8 million tourists visited the Land of the Rising Sun in 2024. This is a far cry from the 25 million in 2023, but also the 32 million welcomed in 2019, according to JNTO, Japan’s National Tourism Organization.
Although Kyoto recently announced that it would be increasing its tourist tax to cope with growing visitor numbers (to be implemented in 2026), the Japanese authorities are not hoping to see fewer tourists — quite the contrary. The country’s ambition is to welcome 60 million visitors a year by 2030.
Other global destinations are experiencing record visitor numbers too, with Brazil seeing an unprecedented 6.6 million visitors, for example, up 12.3 per cent on 2023. This success was boosted by the arrival of visitors from Argentina, the USA and Chile.
According to the Brazilian Agency for International Tourism Promotion (Embratur), this success can be attributed to the promotion of Brazil abroad with “innovative programs and projects that are being copied around the world.”
Embratur president, Marcelo Freixo, said: “It is an efficient policy and the results are felt by the Brazilian people in every region of the country. This significant growth that we had in 2023 and 2024 will continue in the coming years and Brazilian tourism is beginning to turn an important page from being a potential to becoming a reality, a leading segment of the economy in the generation of jobs and income, attracting international revenue, and a model of economic development that can be an ally of the environment.”
Of course, a must-visit destination in 2024 due to the Olympic and Paralympic Games, France didn’t miss out either, welcoming 100 million tourists, up 2 per cent on 2023.
The country also benefited from winter vacationers, with the arrival of tourists in ski resorts, boosted by favourable snow conditions.
All in all, according to UN Tourism, Europe remains the world’s leading destination, welcoming 747 million tourists in 2024.
With a 1 per cent increase in visitor numbers compared to 2019, the Old Continent is definitively turning the page on the pandemic.
The Middle East and Africa represent the other world regions that received the most visits compared to 2019. — ETX Daily
