| Global Travel Champion | |
By The Globalist | Saturday, September 08, 2012 |
For the first time ever, world travelers spent more than $1 trillion on international tourism activities last year. With the summer travel season coming to an end in the Northern part of the globe (and still a few months away in the Southern hemisphere), The Globalist Quiz wonders: Which nation spends the most on tourism beyond its own borders?
A. United States is not correctThe United States ranks second when it comes to spending on international tourism. Total overseas spending in 2011 amounted to $79 billion, according to the United Nations' World Tourism Organization. Despite the recession, Americans' expenditures on tourism abroad increased by almost 5%. A far larger amount is spent by Americans on travel at home — $610 billion in 2009 (the last year for which data is available), according to the U.S. Travel Association. That is a reflection of the country's insular geography which, in contrast to the situation in Europe, makes many foreign travel destinations unreachable by car or by low-cost flights. B. Germany is correct.Germans' total spending on international tourism reached close to $85 billion in 2011. That means that the 82 million Germans spent a little more than $1,000 per person on foreign travel last year. By comparison, the 314 million Americans spent about $250 per person on overseas travel. Meanwhile, the 34 million Canadians spent about $970 per person, almost four times more than the average American — although two-thirds of that amount was spent on travel to the United States. C. China is not correct.China's government prohibited holidays abroad until the early 1990s. But now, the country is the most rapidly growing force in international tourism. At $73 billion in 2011, the country now ranks third in the world in terms of international travel. While the statistical average of spending by the 1.3 billion Chinese — at $56 — is very small, the amount spent by each Chinese tourist abroad is actually far higher. In 2011, Chinese tourists made 47 million trips abroad. That explains why the average Chinese visitor spends around $6,000 per trip to the United States, one-third more than people visiting from other countries. Overall, tourism expenditures by citizens from the BRIC countries grew dynamically, up 32% over 2010 in the case of both China and India, 29.5% for Brazilians and 22% for Russians. D. France not correct.The French rank fifth worldwide, spending close to $42 billion on international travel in 2011. That is 16% less than the $50 billion spent by Britons last year. The United States leads the world as the favorite international tourism destination, generating over $116 billion in revenues in 2011. That is about 2% more than the next two countries combined — Spain ($60 billion) and France ($53.8 billion). |
