TOURISMOS is an international, multi-disciplinary, refereed (peer ...

James Leigh
Tourist arrivals increased 12 fold from 1960 to 2008. World
international tourist arrivals have grown at the rate of 4 % percent a year
from 1990 to 2007, amounting to a total of nearly one trillion in 2007
(WTO, 2008, p. 3).
Travel and tourism as the world’s biggest industry has some
impressive statistics. In 2005 world employment in the industry was
221,568,000 jobs, amounting to 8.3% of total world employment, or a
ratio of one in every twelve jobs. The sector’s economy contributed $4.7
trillion to the world economy, making up a total of 10.6% of world GDP.
By 2015 travel and tourism are predicted to grow considerably to $7.8
trillion of economic activity and over 269 million jobs (Goeldner and
Ritchie, 2006, p.26).
Yeoman (2008a, p. 9) records and predicts: “In 1950, 25 million
people took an international holiday; by 2030, we predict that 1.9 billion
people will take an international holiday”. In the same mindset, the
following table from Goeldner and Richie (2006, p. 556) shows what
many hope and even predict will be the continued strong growth of
international tourism in the next decade:
Table 1 International Arrivals
Forecast of International Tourism
Arrivals 2010, 2020
Regions
Tourist Arrivals
(millions)
2010 2020
Europe 527 717
East Asia/Pacific 231 438
Americas 195 284
Africa 46 75
Middle East 37 69
South Asia 11 19
World 1,047 1,602
(Goeldner and Ritchie, 2006, p. 556)
Spectacular economic development over the last century has been
fired up by the abundant cheap supply of energy resources, and
particularly oil. More specifically mass international tourism was made
possible and even facilitated by the abundant supply of cheap energy
across the board, based on the energy progenitor, conventional cheap and
abundant crude oil.
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