International Tourism Hit Pre-Covid Levels in 2024

Global tourism has finally recovered to pre-pandemic levels, UN Tourism said Tuesday: Roughly 1.4 billion people traveled internationally last year, a figure that's 99% of 2019 levels.

That's also an 11% increase — or 140 million more international tourist arrivals — from 2023, driven in part by substantial increases in visitor numbers to Africa and the Asia-Pacific region. Africa had 74 million arrivals in 2024, a 12% jump from the previous year. And international arrivals in Asia-Pacific grew 33%.

Tourism to the Asia-Pacific region was likely boosted by destinations such as China easing visa requirements. China's tourism ministry reported a 79% year-on-year increase in inbound tourists during the first three quarters of last year.

However, Asia-Pacific arrival numbers at the end of 2024 were 87% of pre-pandemic levels.

"In 2024, global tourism completed its recovery from the pandemic and, in many places, tourist arrivals and especially earnings are higher than in 2019," said UN Tourism Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili.

For 2025, UN Tourism projects that international tourist arrivals will grow 3% to 5% — a forecast based on Asia-Pacific's continued recovery and solid growth elsewhere around the world. A Skift Research survey for its 2025 Travel Outlook revealed that respondents in China and India had the highest intentions to travel this year, with 88% of Chinese and 82% of Indians surveyed stating they had definite travel plans.