International tourist arrivals soar after restrictions lifted

International tourism enjoyed a 182 per cent year-on-year boost between January and March of this year, according to the World Tourism Organisation’s (WTO) world tourism barometer, which was released earlier this month.

Based on the data within the report, international arrivals rose by 76 million during the first quarter of 2022, with the figure standing at 117 million arrivals.

During the first quarter of 2021, the same figure stood at approximately 41 million.

March was a particularly fruitful month for the global tourism industry, accounting for 47 million tourist arrivals out of the total figure for the first quarter.

“Tourism continues to recover at a strong pace. Globally, destinations welcomed almost three times as many international arrivals in the first quarter of 2022 as in the same period of 2021, with Europe leading the sector’s rebound,” the WTO said in its report.

Europe’s tourism industry was a particular benefactor of looser travel restrictions.

According to the report, Europe saw nearly four times the number of tourist arrivals during the first quarter of 2022, with a year-on-year increase of 280 per cent.

The sharp increase in Europe’s tourist arrivals was primarily boosted by robust intra-regional remand.

A similar story played out in the Americas, where arrivals rose by 117 per cent year-on-year during the same period of time.

However, the report noted that for both regions, arrivals are still below their pre-pandemic levels.

Arrivals in Europe and the Americas are 43 per cent and 46 per cent lower respectively than the equivalent period in 2019.

International arrivals also rose in the Middle East and Africa, with yearly increases of 132 per cent and 96 per cent respectively.

As with Europe and the Americas, both of the above two regions remain below pre-pandemic levels, with the Middle East and Africa having 59 per cent and 61 per cent fewer arrivals than in 2019 respectively.

Asia and the Pacific, where some countries still impose strict travel restrictions, saw a 64 per cent year-on-year increase during the first quarter.

However, they still remained 93 per cent below the number of arrivals recorded in 2019, a much more pronounced gap than in other regions.

Regarding expectations as to when the tourism industry would fully recover to pre-pandemic levels, 56 per cent of tourism experts in Europe said that this would be achieved by 2023.

What is more, 36 per cent said that it would require an additional year for that to happen.

In terms of the global tourism industry as a whole, 48 per cent said that it would fully recover by 2023, while 44 per cent said that this would happen by 2024.

Regarding subregions, Cyprus finds itself in one of the two areas where tourism is picking up the pace the fastest.

“The Caribbean and Southern Mediterranean Europe continue to show the fastest rates of recovery,” the report said.

“In both, arrivals recovered to nearly 75 per cent of 2019 levels, with some destinations reaching or exceeding pre-pandemic levels,” it added.