2019 saw a new record for international tourist numbers, with 1.5 billion arrivals recorded, the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) confirmed at a press conference held in Madrid on Monday.
2019 is the 10th consecutive year of rising international tourist growth and the 1.5 billion tourists represent a four percent increase from that of 2018, with the UNWTO also predicting continued growth of between three and four percent for 2020 inspired partly by events such as the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and the Expo 2020 in Dubai.
The UNWTO explained that growth in 2019 was affected by "uncertainty surrounding Brexit, the collapse of Thomas Cook, geopolitical and social tensions and the global economic slowdown," with the slowdown "mainly affecting advanced economies and particularly Europe and Asia and the Pacific."
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