The tourism industry has finally made a comeback after facing some tough years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to CNN, the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) on Wednesday, January 22, 2025, released the 2024 year-in-review data, which revealed that international travelling has hit pre-pandemic heights.
The data found that during 2024, 1.4 billion people travelled abroad, which is 99% of the travellers who travelled in 2019, before the pandemic. These tourists spent a total of $1.9 trillion on tourism, $1,000 per person on average.
Moreover, Europe was the most-visited continent of 2024, visited by 747 million tourists, while France was the world’s most-visited nation. Spain was the second most visited country with 98 million tourists.
As per the French tourism board, 100 million people visited the country last year. The national tourism marketing department stated, “2024 was an exceptional year for French tourism, promising prospects for 2025!”
The department noted that the major events in the country, the 2024 Summer Olympics, the re-opening of Paris’ iconic Notre Dame cathedral, and the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy, contributed the most to reviving the tourism in the country.
Furthermore, UNWTO reports that the number of visitors to the other parts of the world was as follows: Asia and Pacific: 316 million, Americas: 213 million, Middle East: 95 million, Africa: 74 million.
