The Hindu Business Line : China, Hong Kong among top-10 tourist destinations

Data on international tourist arrivals complied by the World Tourism Organisation say Hong Kong powered its way into the list of the world's 10 most-visited destinations, while China moved from fifth place to fourth. With 21.8 million visitors, Hong Kong became the seventh most visited destination last year. China had 41.8 million tourist arrivals last year, up from 33 million arrivals in the year 2003.

France, with 75.1 million visitors last year continued to be the world's most visited destination, while Spain with 53.6 million arrivals ranked second. The US, with 46.1 million arrivals was in third place, while Italy with 37.1 million arrivals was in the fifth place and the UK, with 27.7 million arrivals was in the sixth place. Other countries among the top 10 tourism destinations were Mexico, Germany and Austria.

Though India does not find a place among the top tourism destinations of the world, it has performed well in 2004 with over 3.36 million international arrivals. In fact, in 2004, India registered a 23.5 per cent growth in international arrivals compared to 2003. The entire South Asian region has performed well in 2004, with over 8 million tourist arrivals. Last year, the region had a 20 per cent growth in international tourist arrivals compared with 2003, says the World Tourism Organisation.

Earlier this year, the World Tourism Organisation had also announced that 2004 was a year of extraordinary growth for the world's tourism industry, with international tourism arrivals touching an all-time high of 760 million. The world's top 10 tourism destinations, as identified by the organisation, accounted for 363 million — or almost half — of the international tourist arrivals recorded last year.

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