World tourism arrivals reaches 940 million in 2010 according to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). The majority or 51 percent of the international tourists were motivated to travel for leisure, recreation, and vacations. Another 27 percent were driven to visit family and friends (VFR) or to make religious pilgrimages to places such as Mecca, Jerusalem, and the Vatican. Business travelers rounded out the group of inbound tourists with a showing of 15 percent.
It’s striking that holiday tourism more than doubled business travel and VFR combined. In addition to the statistics related to purpose of tourism, the overall numbers showed a recovery for international tourism from the past couple of years along with the continued increase of air transport versus ground travel.
Read about how people travel.
___________________________________________________________________________________
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.
Receive our free content by e-mail directly to your inbox or through an RSS reader.
Jess
Interesting. I’m really surprised at the low number for business travelers. They must spend a lot because they get so much attention in the tourism industry.
Kyle
Jess, I think they spend a lot because it’s their companies money so the travel industry wants a piece of the pie. Obviously business travelers are generally the ones flying in first class.
I am in the blue and yellow parts of the pie! Our trips are generally because we’re going to photograph a wedding somewhere, buuuut we sneak in tourist time too 🙂
Anto
I certainly travel for leisure and discovering new cultures and landscapes. But it can be a healthy thing too as it helps people to temporarily disconnect from their work routines.
Gennaro
@Jess That makes a lot of sense
@Anto Very true.