World tourism is recovering, reaching 84% compared to before the epidemic, of which the Middle East grew by 20% compared to 2019, and Asia-Pacific by 61%.
According to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) under the United Nations, 700 million people traveled internationally from January to July this year, an increase of 43% over the same period in 2022 and 84% compared to 2019. China East, Europe and Africa lead the recovery. Among them, the Middle East is the only region to receive more visitors than in 2019, 20% higher.
Europe welcomed 91% of visitors compared to the same period before the epidemic, the majority of visitors came from within the EU and the US. Africa recovered 92% and America ranked 4th with a recovery rate of 87%.
In Asia-Pacific, the recovery rate reached 61%. UNTWO assesses this recovery as “very fast” compared to 2022 thanks to many large markets such as China and Japan relaxing quarantine measures and reopening.
In Vietnam, the latest data from the National Tourism Administration shows that in the first 10 months of the year, 10 million international visitors were welcomed, equal to 67% compared to the same period in 2019.
July is the highest month with more than 145 million international visitors recorded, accounting for 20% of the total number of world tourists in 7 months. “The data once again shows that tourism is recovering strongly in every part of the world,” said UNWTO secretary-general Zurab Pololikashvili.
Pololikashvili added that the tourism industry also needs to adapt to challenges when starting to recover, such as the harsh climate and heat that occurred throughout Europe this summer. In addition, the number of tourists starting to travel again leads to the need to build a more comprehensive and sustainable management system globally.
It is predicted that in the fourth quarter of this year, the world tourism industry will continue to recover but “at a moderate level” compared to the peak season of June-August.
According to the UNWTO Panel of Experts, the challenging economy continues to be a factor affecting the effective recovery of world tourism in 2023.
Prolonged inflation and rising oil prices lead to higher transportation and accommodation costs. This more or less affects the travel trends of tourists such as saving money, traveling closer to home and shorter trips.