The travel and tourism industry is booming. During 2017, the UN’s International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development,
international tourist arrivals grew by 7% to reach a total of 1.326 billion. This total far exceeds the United Nations World Tourism
Organization’s 2010-2020 long-term projections of 3.8% growth per year.1
In January 2018, UNWTO projected a 4-5% increase for
2018;2
during the first four months of 2018, growth was 6%, already surpassing expectations.3
In addition, UNWTO provides rough
estimates that apart from the 1.3 billion international trips, there are another 5-6 billion domestic trips.
4 What factors are
responsible for this growth? The range of causes that have been identified include, but are not limited to, a growing middle class,
emerging new travel markets, improved connectivity, and travel options to fit a wide range of budgets.