About this reportInternational Tourism Forecasts details projected international tourism flows and expenditure up to the year 2020.
It should be noted that, like the statistics compiled by the UNWTO (United Nations World Tourism Organisation), only the movements and spending of tourists who cross international borders have been taken into account.
Data relating to domestic tourism, which constitutes the major part of tourism activity worldwide, have therefore been excluded from this report.
Restricting the analysis and forecasting of tourism to cross-border movements distorts the comparison among different geographical regions around the world.
The principal result of this is that the level of tourism activity in Europe appears far more important relative to the rest of the world than it is in reality.
This is due to the continent being split up into a number of small countries in close proximity to one another, which means that international border crossings are more frequent than in other parts of the world.
Indeed, a large proportion of the European population lives within less than 200km of an international border.
This situation can be compared to that of an American, a Brazilian, or a Chinese who might have to travel thousands of kilometres to reach a foreign country.