European Tourism Had One of Its Best Years While U.S. Had One of Its Worst
Photo Credit: European tourism made a rebound in 2017. Pictured are tourists walking the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, Scotland. Skift / Dan Peltier
Skift Take
Europe's 2017 tourism story is nearly the opposite of its 2016 downward twists and turns. It wasn't a perfect year and some destinations on the continent are still struggling, but it's also a sign that many Europeans are choosing to travel closer to home to stick to their budgets.
After economic shocks and terrorist attacks roiled Europe in 2016, international visitor arrivals made a notable comeback in 2017, making it the strongest year for the region's tourism in seven years.
By contrast, according to the latest international tourism data from the the United Nations World Tourism Organization, the number of international visitors to the U.S. is expected to drop compared to 2016.
Asia-Pacific has had some of the highest growth rates in tourism arrivals for the past few years, with regions like South Asia (10 percent) and Southeast Asia (8 percent) showing high growth rates. Southern and Mediterranean Europe (13 percent) was the region with the highest growth rate and raw numbers in the world last year, increasing from more than 228 million to more than 258 million visitors. North Africa also saw 13 percent growth, but its increase was from a much smaller number — 18.5 million to nearly 21 million.
Western Europe, which includes some of the world's
