The past few years has seen a gradually increasing shift from surface transport to air transport for travelers. Slightly over half of tourists arrived at their destination via air travel (51%) last year versus surface travel. The latter consisted of road (41%), rail (2%), and water (6%) transport according to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
It’s not surprising that air travel has increased as it has become cheaper in a lot of countries especially in Europe where rail travel has been a popular mode of transport in the past. That said, it’s a bit astonishing that rail travel is only 2% internationally considering the sheer number of tourists that travel by rail between European countries. On a side note, it would be interesting to know how much of the road travel is by bus versus automobile.
View a chart answering: Why do people travel?
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Gennaro Salamone is the founder and editor of Enduring Wanderlust. Feel free to contact him with questions, comments, or inquiries with reference to contributing an article or photograph for publication.
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Jess
Interesting info! I use to travel by train in Europe, but changed that in the last couple of years because of the discount airlines. Some land at smaller airport which isn’t great, but the cost and time is worth it.
Andrew
Surprised that water travel beats rail travel too. I know cruises and ferries are popular, but I wouldn’t have guessed that.
Gennaro
@Jess Same here if it’s a long distance in Europe though it’s still nice to travel by land if it’s close.
@Andrew Good point.
Andi of My Beautiful Adventures
Wow, I would have thought air would have been more like 75%!