Last year, the number of tourists worldwide reached an astonishing 1.035 billion arrivals, according to an annual survey by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). Despite worldwide economic uncertainty, more people than ever before traveled to other countries. Tourism is clearly an economic and cultural force that will continue increasing every year.
The survey found that tourism around the world increased by 4 percent overall from 2011 to 2012. Europe is still the most visited area, with 535 million visitors, but visitor arrivals continued to increase in every region of the world except the Middle East.
Tourism in the Asia-Pacific region was up 7 percent. The region's best performer was Southeast Asia with arrivals up 8.7 percent from 2011. Japan saw revenue from international tourism increase by 37 percent in 2012, a higher number than the vast majority of countries.