Economic

According to the UN World Tourism Organization, 2010 grew to 940 million people, generating US$919 billion in export earnings - and these figures already show an increase in 2011.

Tourism is one of the top three sources of export earnings for nearly half of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and is a priority sector for their further integration in the global economy. This makes tourism the world's number one export earner, ahead of automotive products, chemicals, petroleum and food.

The potential of tourism in contributing to lift people out of poverty is increasingly acknowledged and is supported by the growing relevance of the sector for poor countries. International tourist arrivals in the 48 LDCs grew from 6 million in 2000 to over 17 million in 2010. In the same period, international tourism receipts climbed from US$ 3 billion to over US$ 10 billion.