Commonwealth receives just 13 per cent of world tourism

Commonwealth countries receive only 13 per cent of global incoming tourism, that is 92 million visitors every year.

Corinthia Hotels International chairman Karmenu Vella said three Commonwealth countries - the United Kingdom, Canada and Malaysia - are visited by 50 million people annually, which represents over half the number of tourists to the entire Commonwealth.

Malta is the 12th highest tourist receiver among Commonwealth countries. Mr Vella said the top 12 countries take up 85 per cent of the tourism to Commonwealth countries.

On average, Commonwealth countries get five tourists for every 100 citizens. This is much lower than Malta, which gets 300 tourists for every 100 citizens, he said.

Mr Vella was speaking at the Commonwealth Business Forum during a session entitled Tourism: 2005 And Beyond - Growth In A Competitive Global Market.

On the whole, global tourism numbers are increasing annually and this year global tourism is performing between five and six per cent better than last year. The good news is that according to the World Tourism Organisation this growth will continue until 2020.

The concern is that the growth has not been equal in all regions. By 2020, East Asia and the Pacific will only be where Europe was last year, Mr Vella said.

The top tourism generators are Germany, Japan and the United States and the top receptors are China, France and the United States.

"There is cutthroat competition, with new destinations appearing every year," he said, adding that a slump in tourism for a couple of years can "demolish any tourism investment".

One of the biggest challenges is that tourism is dependent on a number of unpredictable forces, including natural disasters and terrorism.

Emerging Markets Group director Oliver Bennett said domestic tourism is also significant, highlighting the fact that tourism is not only made up of people who cross borders.

He spoke about the astonishing resilience of tourism, which remains popular despite terrorism and natural disasters.

Mr Bennett said there is resistance to investment in Africa because companies think the risk is too high. Governments, he insisted, need to help facilitate investment.

He highlighted the importance of national tourist organisations, but pointed out that in many countries the chairman or chief executive officer is "the gift" of the minister and argued that countries need strong representation to win in the tourism game.

Bahamas Foreign Affairs and Public Service Minister Fred Mitchell said that because the Caribbean was close to the United States, and could be considered a soft target for terrorism, a lot of money had been spent on increasing security, which would, in turn, add to the cost of the product. However, such investment was not in vain because American travellers regarded the Caribbean region as safe.