Tourism has become one of the largest and fastest growing industries, not only in Asia and the Pacific but also in the global economy.

In recent years, the tourism industry has faced terrorism, natural disasters and health scares. Despite these challenges, international tourist arrivals worldwide exceeded 800 million in 2005, a new record and almost twice as many as in 1990. Over the same period, the number of arrivals in Asia and the Pacific doubled, from 85 million to 198 million.

Almost half - 48 per cent - of all tourists globally in 2005 had a European destination. The share of Asia and the Pacific in the global total was 25 per cent in the same year, significantly up from 19 per cent in 1990..

As shown in figure 23.1, China, Turkey, the Russian Federation, Malaysia and Hong Kong, China, received the highest number of international tourists within Asia and the Pacific in 2005. An estimated 47 million international tourists arrived in China in that year, more than twice as many as received by Turkey, the second largest recipient of tourists in the region. At the global level, China is the fourth largest recipient of international tourists after France, Spain and the United States.

Singapore, as well as Hong Kong, China, and Macao, China, attract very high numbers of arrivals, considering their small size.

Figure 23.1 International tourist arrivals in Asia and the Pacific, 1990 and 2005

The countries with the highest absolute number of international tourist arrivals have not necessarily had the highest growth rates in the number of arrivals during the last decade, however. Tourist arrivals in Turkey and China, for example, increased annually by 11 and 8 per cent, respectively, between 1995 and 2005, but Armenia and Azerbaijan, both landlocked developing countries, as well as Cambodia and Georgia experienced the highest growth in tourist arrivals-at least 20 per cent annually between 1995 and 2005.

Figure 23.2 International tourism receipts as a percentage of GDP in Asian and Pacific countries/areas, 1990 and 2005

Tourism receipts are important for many economies in Asia and the Pacific. Among the top 10 countries with the highest international tourism receipts as a percentage of GDP, half are small island developing States. In the Cook Islands, for example, international tourism receipts accounted for half of GDP. In Maldives and Samoa, both least developed countries, tourism receipts amounted to 38.2 and 18.5 per cent of GDP, respectively, in 2005.

Some least developed countries including Cambodia and the Lao People's Democratic Republic have also benefited from spending by international visitors. In 2005, international tourism receipts accounted for 13.6 per cent of GDP in Cambodia and over 5 per cent in the Lao People's Democratic Republic, in contrast to only 1.6 and 2.9 per cent, respectively, in 1995.

The Asian and Pacific region has shown remarkable dynamism in the tourism sector over the last decade, despite having faced several deterrents to tourist arrivals and spending. The SARS epidemic in 2003 impacted North-East and South-East Asia, where all countries posted a decline in tourist visits. The following year, the Asian tsunami significantly affected tourist destinations in India, Indonesia, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

In Thailand, for example, international tourism receipts decreased from over 6 per cent of GDP in 2004 to 5.7 per cent by 2005. In Indonesia and Sri Lanka, the percentage of foreign visitors' expenditure as part of GDP also decreased due to the effects of the tsunami. However, the most affected country was Maldives, where tourism receipts fell from 51 per cent of GDP in 2000 to 38 per cent in 2005.

The tourism sectors in the countries affected by SARS and the tsunami have since recovered from these incidents. Citizens of middle-income countries in Asia and the Pacific are contributing increasingly to tourism in the region.