International tourism demand continued to be robust between January and April with the Middle East recording a 4 per cent increase in the number of arrivals.

Worldwide, international tourist arrivals increased by 4 per cent between January and April, with 332 million international tourists (overnight visitors) travelling between the three months - a record 16 million more than the same period last year, said a report by UNWTO World Tourism Barometer.

By region, the US led growth with a 6 per cent increase in international tourist arrivals, followed by Europe, Asia and the Pacific and the Middle East, all recording 4 to 5 per cent more arrivals.

By subregion, Oceania and South America boasted the strongest increase (both up 8 per cent), followed by the Caribbean and Central and Eastern Europe (both up 7 per cent), the latter rebounding from last year’s decline.

“It is encouraging to see the tourism sector consolidating its excellent results despite security concerns and unrest in many parts of our world”, said UNWTO secretary-general, Taleb Rifai. “This underscores that tourism is a surprisingly resilient economic sector which increasingly contributes to development in many countries around the globe. For national governments, it is a reminder that tourism can be part of the solution to foster socio-economic development and job creation”, he added.

Furthermore, close to 500 million tourists are estimated to travel abroad between May and August - the Northern Hemisphere holiday peak season - which accounts for 41 per cent of all international tourist arrivals registered in a year.

In a forecast issued by UNWTO in January, international tourist arrivals are expected to increase by 3 per cent to 4 per cent for the full year 2015, in line with UNWTO’s long-term forecast of 3.8 per cent a year for the period 2010 to 2020. – TradeArabia News Service