As the tourist numbers due ti the recession continue to fall worldwide, firms have come up with innovative ways to maintain their businesses, a new report says.
In the first four months of this year, the tourist figures across the globe dropped by 8% to 247 million, compared with 269 million for the same period in 2008 and 254 million in 2007, the World Travel Market’s annual report revealed.
The report, which was also published with Euro monitor International, has identified several trends taking place in international tourism. The document, released at this year’s WTM here, shows demand differs from region to region, with Africa actually showing an increase of 3%.
The arrival of Barrack Obama into the White House has generated interest in Africa as a holiday destination and travel firms have started to target African-Americans who want to go back to the continent and trace their roots, the report states.
US travel operators are targeting unemployed people who have money and want to do some traveling while they are out of work.
The so-called “funermployed”have been targeted with discounts of up to 15%. In Britain, the recession has seen a rise in low-cost easy to construct “temporary “hotels, made up of pre-fabricated rooms, set up in city centers.
In the Middle East, there is a trend for women-only accommodation, as more females in the region travel alone.Analystssay the they have seen some signs of recovery this year, but the picture remains mixed.
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