International Tourism

International tourism flows produce some of the most dynamic economic exchanges that occur between countries. Between 1970 and 1993, international arrivals more than trebled from 165 million to 500 million. Over the same period, international tourism receipts experienced an 18-fold increase, passing from US$17.9 billion to US$324 billion annually.

The international tourism market is highly segmented by types of products, clientele and destinations. The analysis of tourism markets in each destination region of the world gives a general insight into current situations and past and future trends. For instance, it highlights the relative importance of intra-regional tourism in Europe, a consequence of the high concentration of international tourism in the region. Indeed, there are many country borders within a relatively small area and land communication (railway and road systems) is accessible and extensive. In contrast, the development of international tourism in other regions of the world such as Africa and South Asia is hampered by weak intra-regional flows, not just because of the low purchasing power of their populations but also because of the slowness of land transport and because access is restricted by poor networks of usable roads. Visitors to these areas tend to favour air transport although this is a far more expensive mode of transport.

The determinants of international tourism are factors which, with respect to the international exchange of tourism services, continually influence the position of each country in the international division of labour.

The accommodation sector is central to international tourism. Tourism flows are directly influenced by the size of this sector, by the way it adapts to demand and by the quality of the accommodation on offer. Three characteristics are associated with accommodation:

The different modes of transport in existence are significant to the growth of international tourism. The cost of transport often determines the total cost of tourism products and directly influences the choice of tourism destination. Air transport has contributed to the creation of new tourism markets far from tourist-generating countries which are not accessible either by road or by sea. The air transport industry occupies an important part of the tourism industry and the world economy. In 1990, air transport contributed US$700 billion to the world economy and the industry employed 21 million people worldwide. Despite a very rapid growth rate, higher than the world’s GNP growth rate, international air transport is a difficult industry to manage, and both business and leisure traffic are susceptible to economic crises.

In order to achieve commercial success, tourism product designers and distributors offer products specifically adapted to the needs of the consumer. These are sold at competitive prices and should be perceived to have a good quality—price ratio. The tour operator packaging and selling tourism products should enjoy a high reputation and an image of quality. Success depends on an expert knowledge of the market, skilful packaging of the products and an ability to commercialise them.

Evaluating the economic impact of tourism provides information necessary for the formulation of tourism development policies. These policies determine the type of infrastructure and superstructure a country needs to invest in to encourage the most appropriate kind of tourism production. However, because of problems of definition (for instance, whether the impact of day-visitors should be included) and because of the relative inaccuracy of tourism statistics, it is difficult to measure the economic impact of tourism accurately.

The tourism policies of many countries are a component (often an essential one) of their overall economic policy. They are developed and implemented by both professionals and administrative organisations.

With regards to the international tourism, industrialised countries, notably in North America and in Western Europe, have several common characteristics:

According to Antonio Enriquez Savignac, Secretary-General of the WTO (1995), tourism undeniably acts as a driving force for world development. Its growth has overtaken that of international trade which in turn progresses faster than the creation of wealth, particularly for developing countries.

After a period of sustained worldwide growth (even throughout the economic crisis), international tourism has entered an unsettled period. Since 1986, the growth rate has been around 3 per cent annually despite the negative impacts caused by the economic crisis in industrialised countries and more especially by the effects of the Gulf War. After the war, the buoyancy of international tourism was fragile and the economic mechanisms (particularly monetary) took a while to register an impact. Furthermore, there were only sparse indications of recovery and resumed economic growth in the United States, Europe and Japan which are, of course, the main generating countries.