Skift Take
This was anything but a sleepy summer. The Trump administration, Brexit, and overtourism — to name a few tourism topics — definitely kept us on our toes during the past few months and we expect more news on these fronts in the months ahead.
Summer is the busiest tourism season for many destinations in the northern hemisphere, and the warmer weather brought some heat to an array of areas besides beaches, boardwalks, and backyards.
But before the temperatures began to rise, many regions in the northern hemisphere and elsewhere were already experiencing some of the strongest tourism growth they've had in seven years.
The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) released data this week showing 598 million travelers crossed international borders in the first six months of 2017, a six percent increase in the same period last year. The January-through-June stretch was also the strongest such period since 2010 for global tourism growth as the average year-over-year growth for those months has been four percent during the past seven years.
UNWTO data show that Europe and Africa had the strongest tourism growth for January through June (eight percent year-over-year) while Asia-Pacific was six percent and North and Latin America was three percent.
Data show robust results for Mexico and Canada were partially offset by a decrease in arrivals to the United States, the region's largest destination and a topic we explore below. Within the Americas, South America, Central America, and the Caribbean led the way with six, five and four percent growth in international arrivals year-over-year, respectively.
Because UNWTO's data doesn't account for domestic tourist arrivals in destinations —which often far outnumber international arrivals — global tourism growth for the first six months of the year was likely larger for some regions.
This summer, beginning in June and lasting through Labor Day, there was plenty of activity and announcements, whether in the form of White House policy changes, tourism board funding challenges, Brexit backlash, or anti-tourism movements.
Here’s a summary of the biggest tourism stories to emerge this summer, and hints of what to expect as we enter fall.
1. Visit Florida's Funding Was Saved But Other Destinations Face Uncertainty
Visit Florida will survive another year to market the state’s destinations, from the Florida panhandle to Key West, after one of the most high-profile destination marketing funding battles in recent memory came to close in June.
The Florida Legislature on June 9 approved a $76 million budget for Visit Florida for fiscal 2018 after a three-day special session in the Florida Hous
