ABSTRACT
To appreciate the scale of developments I will briefly outline some of the global developments in tourism. First, there are over 400 million international arrivals a year (in 1989). This compares with merely 60 million in 1960. There are between three and four times that number of domestic tourists worldwide. International tourists are increasing by 4 to 5 per cent per annum and will have risen at least 50 per cent by the year 2000. International tourists currently spend $209 billion a year, generate at least 60 million jobs and fill
10.5 million hotel beds. Moreover, there will be significant increases in the world’s population over the next few decades, something like 93 million a year. Tourism will expand at a much faster rate than this increase in population. It grows with income, since there is a high income elasticity of demand, and as a result of new forms of publicity through the media. For example, the number of visitors to the Mediterranean, currently the world’s most successful destination region, is predicted to rise from 100 million in 1985 to 760 million in 2025. Two obvious environmental effects will be the increased use of fossil fuels to fly people there, as long-haul holidays become widespread, and intense shortages of clean water especially with the probable climatic changes in the region.
