19/01/2012 | C. Martin
Europe experienced more growth in tourism than any other region during
last year, according to new research.
The study, carried out by the United Nations World Tourism Organization
(UNWTO), showed that the number of people arriving for holidays in
Europe grew by 6% overall.
Central and Eastern Europe were the best performing areas, seeing
tourism spike by 8%.
Europe has a reputation as an excellent holiday destination because of
the huge range of possible holiday types and destinations it offers,
such as luxury holidays to Italy or city breaks to Paris.
Experts have been very pleased with how well the global tourist market
performed in 2010-2011, despite the harsh economic climate.
Around the world, tourism grew by 4% to 980 million arrivals per year,
meaning the figure is still on course to cross one billion by the end of
2012.
Of the 41 million increase in tourist arrivals around the world, 28
million arrived in Europe, which was only outstripped by sub-region
South America, which saw a growth of 10% in the number of arriving
holidaymakers.
Copyright Press Association 2012