Brussels, 19/07/2012 (Agence Europe) - According to an OECD report (OECD Tourism Trends and Policies 2012) international tourism arrivals have returned rapidly to steady growth, showing tourism's resilience to the effects of the global economic and financial crisis. The report states that OECD countries were the destination of choice for 66% of global arrivals in 2010, with EU countries accounting for 50.2%.
“The OECD's figures confirm that if Europe wants to remain the world's number one tourist destination we need to modernise and invest more in quality, new technology and skills”, said Antonio Tajani, the European commissioner responsible for tourism and entrepreneurship. The tourist industry must adapt to an ageing clientele, changing lifestyles and consumer demands, and explore new ways to attract more international visitors and convince more Europeans to spend their holidays in the EU, the commissioner added.
According to the OECD the total number of international arrivals in all countries reached 940 million in 2010, 6.7% above the 2009 figure. The strongest growth took place in Asia and the Pacific. Overall, international arrivals increased by 4% in the OECD and 2.7% in the EU. The report observes that tourism represents a significant share of the service economy of OECD and EU members, accounting for up to a third of service exports and up to 10% of GDP. It also highlights the growing importance of emerging tourism destination countries which are enjoying significant growth in arrivals, as well as figures above OECD, EU and global averages for GDP and employment. In conclusion the report puts forward three recommendations for public policy: (1) governments should adopt an integrated whole-of-government approach to the development of tourism, better define the roles and responsibilities of tourism organisations, and encourage better industry coordination. Governance practice should support stronger, greener and more inclusive tourism growth; (2) governments should move towards an effective evaluation of policies designed to support the industry and demonstrate the importance of tourism, especially in times of resource constraint; (3) governments should assume a greater role in shaping the training and education agenda in order to plug the shortfall in labour due to shortages of appropriately skilled workers. (IL/transl.fl)