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According to UN Tourism, almost 690 million tourists travelled internationally between January and June 2025, about 33 million more than in the same period of 2024, though results were mixed among regions and subregions.
“In the face of global challenges, international tourism continues to see strong momentum and resilience,” says UN Tourism secretary-general Zurab Pololikashvili.
“The first half of 2025 brought growing arrival numbers and revenues for most destinations around the world, which contribute to local economies, jobs and livelihoods. Yet, this also reminds us of our great responsibility to ensure this growth is sustainable and inclusive and to work with all local stakeholders in that sense.”
The first half of 2025 brought growing arrival numbers and revenues for most destinations around the world, which contribute to local economies, jobs and livelihoods
Africa saw strongest performance while Asia Pacific continued to rebound
The newest edition of the World Tourism Barometer assesses the sector’s performance by region and sub-region in the first six months of 2025. Key takeaways include:
Africa saw a 12 per cent increase in January-June 2025 compared to the same period last year. Both North Africa (+14 per cent) and Subsaharan Africa (+11 per cent) recorded double-digit growth this period.
Europe welcomed nearly 340 million international tourists this first half of 2025, about 4 per cent more than in 2024 and 7 per cent more than in 2019. Northern, Western and Southern Mediterranean Europe all recorded 3 per cent growth this period despite uneven monthly results. Central and Eastern Europe continued to rebound strongly (+9 per cent), but remained 11 per cent below 2019 levels, according to available data.
The Americas recorded 3 per cent growth in January-June 2025, with mixed results across subregions. While South America (+14 per cent) continued to enjoy solid growth, Central America saw a 2 per cent increase in arrivals and North America saw flat results (+0 per cent) mostly due to small declines in the United States and Canada. The Caribbean (+0 per cent) also saw weaker performance partly due to softening demand from its major source market, the United States.
The Middle East recorded 4 per cent fewer arrivals this six-month period, though after a very strong post-pandemic rebound, with 29 per cent more arrivals than the same period of 2019, the strongest regional results relative to 2019.
Arrivals in Asia and the Pacific grew 11 per cent this period, which is 92 per cent of the pre-pandemic figure (-8 per cent compared to 2019). North-East Asia (+20 per cent) saw the strongest performance relative to 2024, though it remained 8 per cent below 2019 levels.
Some of the highest growth rates among large destinations in H1 2025 were recorded by Japan and Vietnam (+21 per cent), the Republic of Korea (+15 per cent), Morocco (+19 per cent), Mexico and the Netherlands (+7 per cent). Malaysia and Indonesia both recorded 9 per cent growth and Hong Kong (China) 7 per cent, though arrivals remained somewhat below 2019 levels in these destinations.
The world’s top destinations France (+5 per cent through May) and Spain (+5 per cent) also recorded solid growth in arrivals this period.
According to IATA, both international air traffic (RPKs) and international air capacity (ASKs) grew 7 per cent in January-June 2025 versus 2024. Global occupancy in accommodation establishments reached 69% in June 2025, slightly below 70 per cent in June 2024. Occupancy reached 71 per cent in July 2025 (same as in July 2024) based on STR data.
Many destinations reported strong growth in receipts in the first half of 2025
Monthly data on international tourism receipts show strong earnings through June 2025 in major destinations such as Japan (+18 per cent), the United Kingdom (+13 per cent through March), France (+9 per cent), Spain (+8 per cent) and Türkiye (+8 per cent).
Strong travel demand can also be seen in outbound spending from some large markets such as China (+16 per cent through March), Spain (+16 per cent), the UK (+15 per cent through March), Singapore (+10 per cent) and the Republic of Korea (+8 per cent).
In 2024 international tourism receipts grew 11 per cent to a record 1,734 billion US dollars, about 14 per cent above pre-pandemic levels (real terms) reflecting already strong visitor spending around the world last year.
Economic and geopolitical factors continue to pose important risks
As in previous surveys, the September survey of the Panel of Tourism Experts and the UN Tourism Confidence Index point to high transport and accommodation costs as well as other economic factors as the top two challenges impacting international tourism in 2025.
Tourism inflation is expected to ease from 8.0 per cent in 2024 to 6.8 per cent in 2025 (projections using tourism inflation proxy) but would remain well above the pre-pandemic value of 3.1 per cent and significantly above overall inflation (4.3 per cent). According to the Panel, tourists will continue to seek value for money, but could also travel closer to home, make shorter trips or spend less, in response to elevated prices.
Uncertainty derived from economic and geopolitical tensions can also weigh on travel confidence. Lower consumer confidence was ranked as the third main factor affecting tourism in the September 2025 survey, while geopolitical risks (aside from ongoing conflicts) ranked fourth. The increase in trade tariffs (5th) and Travel requirements (6th) were also major concerns expressed by the Panel of Experts.
Slight uptick in confidence levels for September-December 2025
The latest UN Tourism Confidence Index shows a slight uptick in confidence levels for the last four months of 2025. On a scale of 0 to 200 (where 100 indicates equal performance), Panel Experts gave the period September-December 2025 a score of 120, up from 114 for May-August.
Some 50 per cent of Panel experts expressed better (44 per cent) or much better (6 per cent) prospects for September-December, while 33 per cent foresee similar performance than in 2024. Some 16 per cent expect tourism performance to be worse. This positive though still cautious outlook is also reflected in the higher percentage of ‘better’ and ‘much better’ prospects for the year 2025 overall (60 per cent in the September survey versus 49 per cent in May) according to Panel Experts.
Despite global uncertainty, travel demand is expected to remain resilient throughout the remainder of the year. UN Tourism’s January projection of 3 per cent to 5 per cent growth in international arrivals for 2025 remains unchanged.
