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Global tourism recovered to pre-pandemic levels in 2024

Global tourism fully recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2024 with 1.4 billion international tourist arrivals recorded worldwide due to "robust" demand from key markets, U.N. Tourism has said.

"A majority of destinations welcomed more international tourists in 2024 than they did before the pandemic, while visitor spending also continued to grow strongly," the Madrid-based body said in a statement.

The number of international tourist arrivals last year was 11 percent higher than the 1.3 billion recorded in 2023, reaching the level seen in 2019, the year before the pandemic paralysed travel.

"In 2024, global tourism completed its recovery from the pandemic and, in many places, tourist arrival and especially earnings are already higher than in 2019," U.N. Tourism secretary general Zurab Pololikashvili said.

"Growth is expected to continue throughout 2025, driven by strong demand contributing to the socio-economic development of both mature and emerging destinations," he added.

Europe, the world's most popular destination region, recorded 747 million international arrivals in 2024, a five-percent increase over the previous year and one percent above 2019 levels.