The World Tourism Organization revealed yesterday that international tourist arrivals between January and July nearly tripled the numbers recorded in 2021, which equates to a sector recovery of nearly 60% from pre-pandemic levels.

According to the latest World Tourism Organization (WTO) World Tourism Barometer, released this Sunday and quoted by Lusa, specifically, about 474 million tourists traveled around the world during this period, compared to 175 million in the same months of 2021.

During June and July, 207 million international arrivals were recorded, more than double the numbers observed in the same two months last year, representing 44% of the total arrivals recorded in 2022.

In Europe, 309 million international arrivals were recorded in the first seven months of 2022, 65% of the global total.

Europe and the Middle East saw the fastest recovery in January and July 2022, with arrivals reaching 74% and 76% of 2019 levels, respectively.

Europe received in the first seven months of the year almost three times the 2021 numbers in the same period, with recovery levels of 79% and 84% in June and July compared to the same months of 2019.

On the other hand, international arrivals to the Middle East increased nearly fourfold from January to July 2021, and surpassed pre-pandemic levels by 3% in July, driven by the pilgrimage to Mecca.

By region, southern Mediterranean Europe (with 85% of 2019 arrivals), the Caribbean (82%) and Central America (80%) showed the fastest recovery to pre-pandemic levels between January and July.

Meanwhile, several destinations recorded higher international arrivals in the first seven months of the year, including the Virgin Islands (up 32% compared to 2019), Albania (19%), St. Martin Island (15%), Ethiopia and Honduras (both 13%), Andorra (10%), Puerto Rico (7%), United Arab Emirates and Dominican Republic (both 3%), San Marino and El Salvador (both 1%) and Curacao.

In terms of international tourism receipts, Serbia (up 73% from 2019), Sudan (64%), Romania (43%), Albania (32%), North Macedonia (24%), Pakistan (18%), Turkey, Bangladesh and Latvia (all 12%), Mexico and Portugal (both 8%), Kenya (5%) and Colombia (2%) exceeded pre-pandemic levels between January and July 2022.

Tourism spending in major source markets increased from January to July compared to the same period last year, although they did not reach pre-pandemic levels.

International air passenger traffic tripled 2021 numbers but remained 45% below pre-pandemic levels, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

As an outlook for the rest of the year, the WTO Tourism Expert Panel is "cautiously optimistic" because although above average performance is expected, the uncertain economic environment seems to have reversed the prospects of a return to pre-pandemic levels in the short term.