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| Global tourism down by 8% during Jan-April period |
| Kyodo/ PTI / London Nov 10, 2009, 14:33 IST |
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As the tourist numbers due to the recession continue to fall worldwide, firms have come up with innovative ways to maintain their businesses, a new report says.
In the first four months of this year, the tourist figures across the globe dropped by 8 per cent to 247 million, compared with 269 million for the same period in 2008 and 254 million in 2007, the World Travel Market's annual report revealed yesterday.
The report, which was also published with Euromonitor International, has identified several trends taking place in international tourism.
The document, released at this year's WTM here, shows demand differs from region to region, with Africa actually showing an increase of 3 per cent.
The arrival of Barack Obama into the White House has generated interest in Africa as a holiday destination and travel firms have started to target African-Americans who want to go back to the continent and trace their roots, the report states.
US travel operators are targetting unemployed people who have money and want to do some travelling while they are out of work.
The so-called "funemployed" have been targeted with discounts of up to 15 per cent.
In Britain, the recession has seen a rise in low-cost easy to construct "temporary" hotels, made up of pre-fabricated rooms, set up in city centers.
In the Middle East, there is a trend for women-only accommodation, as more females in the region travel alone.
Analysts say that they have seen some signs of recovery this year, but the picture remains mixed.
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