A new trend is gaining momentum in tourism: what many countries and their residents, as well as local elites, have dreamed of, will become a reality in the coming decade. Tourism will once again become a “business for the rich”, experts assure, and the poor will not be happy here – in the coming decade, the cost of recreation in most countries of the world will double. At least the trend of increasing tourism revenues while decreasing visitor numbers is spreading around the world, according to a Harvard Business Review report sponsored by Mastercard, which in turn was included in a report prepared for London’s WTM trade show.
“Although the number of international travelers decreased by 3% from 2019 to 2023, revenues increased by 19% compared to the pre-pandemic period,” experts say. Moreover, the gap will only grow, in particular, due to the “new rich” from China, India, and Indonesia, who can afford to go abroad. As a result, according to the findings of the WTM Global Travel Report, by 2033, tourist spending will grow much faster than its total number.
In the meantime, even though the number of tourist trips in 2023 will still be slightly less than in 2019, their “value” will increase significantly. Thus, experts have estimated that the two eternal rivals for the first place in receiving tourists in Europe, Spain and France, will receive about a third more income from tourists than in 2019. And Turkey, which is popular among our tourists, is even more so, here revenues will increase by 73%.
At the same time, so far the “growth driver” has not been declared to be China and India, but the countries of the Persian Gulf. There, the number of tourists increased to 33 million — for comparison, in the “dock-like” year, it was 29 million in 2019. Incomes from tourism there also increased by 46% compared to “pre-similar” times.