Report on World Tourism Economy Trends (2018) Excerpt -6 Member cities of WTCF play an important role in global tourism economy

1. Two thirds of WTCF’s member cities have received one third of global inbound tourists

This Report has collected data of 87 cities (representing two thirds of the member cities) that can provide sound information of all WTCF member cities and found that in 2017, these 87 member cities have received the total of 330 million inbound tourists, roughly 26.6% of the global total inbound tourist arrivals (1.24 billion) (Figure 1.26). That is to say, two thirds of WTCF member cities have occupied one third of international tourism market.

Figure 1.26 Share of 87 WTCF Member Cities in Global Inbound Tourist arrivals received

2. The growth rate of inbound tourism is higher than that of international tourism in member cities of WTCF

We have performed calculations with data provided by Euromonitor and found that in 2013 to 2017, the number of inbound tourist arrivals received by 87 WTCF member cities kept rising steadily, and the growth rate rose by two% from 3.3% in 2013 to 5.3%; that after 2015, the inbound tourist growth rate of these cities have been evidently higher than those of international tourist arrivals, and that in 2017, their growth rates of inbound tourist arrivals were 5.3% and 1.4% higher than that of international tourist arrivals (3.9%) (Figure 1.27).

Figure 1.27 Growth Rates Comparison of Inbound Tourism and International Tourism of 87 WTCF Member Cities (2013-2017)

3. The domestic tourism of WTCF member cities grows faster than the global domestic tourism

We have calculated the data of 44 member cities of WTCF from Euromonitor and found that since 2012, the growth rates of their domestic tourist arrivals have always stayed above 7% and always exceeded the growth rate of the global total domestic tourist arrivals. This figure was 7.4% in 2016 and 0.6% higher than the global domestic tourist arrivals (6.8%) (Figure 1.28).

Figure 1.28 Growth Rates Comparison of Inbound Tourism and Global Total Domestic Tourism of 44 WTCF Members Cities (2012-2016)