Climate Change and Tourism - UNEP - Division of Technology ...

UNWTO, 9 July 2008
Emissions from Tourism: Status and Trends
Some 35 million long-haul trips take place from high-income to high-income countries, mostly travel
between Europe and North America:
•
•
from Europe to North America (15 million);
from Americas to Europe (18.5 million trips, predominantly from North America but including
some from Caribbean, Central and South America).
Some 24 million long-haul trips originate from developing countries heading to high-income countries,
with as most significant flows.
•
•
•
from Asia and the Pacific to Europe (13 million) and North America (8.4 million);
from Africa to Europe (2.2 million) and North America (0.3 million);
from the Middle East to North America (0.2 million).
Some 5 million long-haul trips take place between developing countries in different regions, with as
most significant flows:
•
•
•
•
•
from Asia and the Pacific to the Middle East (1.5 million, i.e., excluding some 70% of arrivals from
South Asia that are considered short- and medium-haul);
from the Middle East to North-East and South-East Asia (0.5 million);
from Asia and the Pacific to Africa (1 million);
from Africa to North-East, South-East and South Asia (0.8 million);
from Asia and the Pacific to the Caribbean, Central and South America (0.6 million).
Those trips are for all purposes, including leisure, business, visiting friends and relatives, health,
pilgrimage and other. Worldwide and for all modes of transport, just over half of all international tourist
arrivals were motivated by leisure, recreation and holidays (51%), business travel accounted for some
16% and 27% represented travel for other purposes, such as visiting friends and relatives (VFR), religious
reasons/pilgrimages, health treatment, etc., while for the remaining 6% of arrivals the purpose of visit
was not specified (see Annex 1). No detailed data are available on the mix of purposes for the various
interregional flows, but anecdotical evidence indicates that a proportionally large share of trips are for
the purposes of business and for visiting family and friends, due the internationalisation of business and
trade and to international migration patterns.
137