Int’l tourist arrivals up 5pc in Q1 2025

Dhaka: International tourist arrivals (overnight visitors) increased by 5 percent in the first quarter of 2025, though results were mixed among regions and sub-regions, according to the May 2025 World Tourism Barometer from UN Tourism.

Over 300 million tourists travelled internationally in the first three months of 2025, about 14 million more than in the same months of 2024. That represents a 5 percent rise on last year and is 3 percent more than in pre-pandemic year 2019.

Asia Pacific rebounds strongly

Arrivals in Asia and the Pacific grew 12 percent, reaching 92 percent of pre-pandemic numbers. North-East Asia saw the strongest performance among world subregions with a 23 percent rebound in Q1 2025 to reach 91 percent of 2019 levels.

According to IATA, international air travel demand grew 8 percent in January-March 2025 versus Q1 2024, while international air capacity was up 7 percent. Global occupancy rates in accommodation establishments reached 64 percent in March, about the same level as in March 2024 (65pc). Industry indicators are available at the UN Tourism Data Dashboard.

In Asia and the Pacific, Japan continued to enjoy a surge in receipts in Q1 (+34pc), while Nepal (+18pc), the Republic of Korea and Mongolia (both +14 pc) also recorded double-digit growth.

Tourism export revenues up

Revised data shows that total export revenues from international tourism (receipts and passenger transport) grew by 11 percent (real terms) to reach a record USD 2.0 trillion in 2024, about 15 percent above pre-pandemic levels. This represents about 6 percent of the world's total exports of goods and services and 23 percent of global trade in services.

International tourism receipts, the main component of tourism service exports, grew 11 percent to USD 1.7 trillion, also in real terms (adjusted for inflation and exchange rate fluctuations).

Average spending remained at USD 1,170 per international trip in 2024, above the pre-pandemic average of USD 1,000 (both in constant dollars).

Growth in earnings from international tourism in 2024 was fueled by strong spending from large source markets such as the United Kingdom (+16pc from 2023), Canada (+13pc), the United States (+12pc), Australia (+8pc) and France (+7pc). China, the world's top tourism spender saw outbound expenditure climb 30 percent to USD 251 billion, about 3 percent above pre-pandemic levels.

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