International tourism continues its steady improvement
12 July 2011International tourism continues to rise around the world, with only the Middle East and North Africa lagging, and even those regions expected to improve later this year, according to the latest United Nations figures.
The World Tourism Barometer, released recently by the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) at its headquarters in Madrid, shows that international tourist arrivals rose by 4.5 per cent in the first four months of this year compared to the same period of 2010.
About 268 million tourists travelled between January and April, up from 256 million last year, which was affected by the closure of much of European airspace because of the ash cloud resulting from the eruption of an Icelandic volcano.
source: UN News Centre
