TOURISM

&TRAVEL

Tourism is the travel for recreational, leisure, family or business purposes, usually of a limited duration. Tourism is commonly associated with trans-national travel, but may also refer to travel to another location within the same country. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes“.

Tourism is an important, even vital, source of income for many countries.

Tourism brings in large amounts of income into a local economy in the form of payment for goods and services needed by tourists, accounting for 30% of the world's trade of services.

The direct contribution of Travel & Tourism to the world economy grew by 3.1% in 2013, contributing US$2.2 trillion to world gross domestic product (GDP) and 101 million jobs.Travel & Tourism’s contribution equates to 9.5% of total economy GDP, 1 in 11 of the world’s total jobs, 4.4% of total investment and 5.4% of world exports.

The major component of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is consumption, which is driven by demand for goods and services. One effect of tourism on GDP is that tourism affects the economy through the provision of employment. The main effect of tourism on GDP is the fact that tourism boosts the demand for goods and services. Such an increase in the consumption level increases the activity on the market and consequently, increases the GDP level.

Tourism is a huge industry. It is an important pillar of many economies that generates billions of dollars annually. Top 10 List of Tourism Earners

Rank Country International tourism expenditure 2012

International tourism expenditure 2011

Market share 2012

Population 2012

Expenditure per capita

1 China $102.0B $72.6B 9.5% 1,354M $75

2 Germany 83.8 85.9 7.8 82 1,023

3 United States 83.5 78.2 7.8 314 266

4 United Kingdom 52.3 51.0 4.9 63 828

5 Russia 42.8 32.9 4.0 142 302

6 France 37.2 44.1 3.5 63 586

7 Canada 35.1 33.3 3.3 35 1,007

8 Japan 27.9 27.2 2.6 128 218

9 Australia 27.6 26.7 2.6 23 1,210

10 Italy 26.4 28.7 2.5 61 433

Top Ten Biggest Spenders on international Tourism

http://www.travelersdigest.com/6329-ten-least-visited-countries-in-the-world/

The Ten Most Visited Countries in Europe

The Ten Most Visited Countries in Asia

http://visual.ly/10-most-visited-cities-world-2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8UMNb5yKJg

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/engineering/architecture/the-worlds-18-strangest-hotels