Nairobi — Global tourism is already feeling the effects of the financial crisis, slowing down over the northern summer this year, the United Nations tourism agency reports.

Warning that the industry could suffer a sharper downturn in the months ahead, the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) says consumer demand is falling in both the business and leisure tourism sectors.

The agency expects that tourism could be hit even harder over the remaining months of this year and the first half of 2009 as the slowdown filters through the global economy.

UNWTO's executive council has agreed to set up a "resilience committee" to support public and private sector members with accurate economic analysis and response mechanisms.

The World Tourism Barometer, compiled by a UNWTO panel of experts, "now shows a perceptible loss of confidence regarding the short-term outlook," the agency said in a press release.

In 2007, international tourist arrivals grew by 6.6 per cent to reach a new record figure of over 900 million -- an extraordinary achievement given that the 800 million mark was only reached two years earlier. This represented 56 million more arrivals than in 2006, well over the total count for either the Middle East or Africa.

World tourism enjoyed its fourth consecutive year of growth in 2007 above the long-term forecast of 4.1 per cent and, surprisingly, it even exceeded the 5.5 per cent increases recorded in 2005 and 2006.

All regions registered increases above their long-term average, with the Middle East leading the growth ranking, with an estimated 16 per cent rise to nearly 48 million international tourist arrivals. In second place came Africa, which was one of the best performers in 2007, with a growth of 7 per cent to 44 million arrivals.

The region confirmed its good momentum averaging 7 per cent growth a year since 2000. International tourism receipts increased by 8 per cent (in real terms) and reached $28 billion.

In North Africa, Morocco continued to advance its arrivals with a 13 per cent rise in 2007. Algeria also did well (6 per cent), especially in the adventure tourism segment.

In sub-Saharan Africa, a number of countries, among the ones with data available, turned in double-digit results, notably Angola (60 per cent), Cape Verde and Madagascar (10 per cent each), Malawi (12 per cent), Mauritius (15 per cent), Reunion (36 per cent), the Seychelles (15 per cent), Tanzania (10 per cent) and Uganda (19 per cent).

South Africa (8 per cent), the leading destination in Africa with 20 per cent of all arrivals to the continent, benefited from the devaluation of the rand and increased marketing in core markets, with a focus on segments like sports and adventure tourism. Awareness of the destination continues to grow in the build-up to its hosting of the Fifa World Cup in 2010.

Asia and the Pacific (184 million) with +10 per cent over 2006. The Americas (+5 per cent) did better than in previous years, achieving over 142 million arrivals. Europe, the world's largest destination region, with a share of 54 per cent of all international tourist arrivals, grew by 5 per cent to reach 484 million.

Simultaneously, international tourism receipts grew to $856 billion in 2007, corresponding to an increase in real terms of 5.6 per cent over 2006. Receipts from international passenger transport are estimated at $165 billion, bringing the total international tourism receipts including international passenger transport (i.e. visitor exports) to over $1 trillion, corresponding to almost $3 billion a day.

International tourism grew around 5 per cent between January and April this year, compared to the same period in 2007, but started slowing down when the summer holidays began in the Northern Hemisphere.

Over the past six decades, tourism has experienced continued growth and diversification to become one of the largest and fastest growing economic sectors in the world.

Over time, more and more destinations have opened up and invested in tourism development, turning modern tourism into a key driver for socio-economic progress.

Tourism has become one of the major international trade categories. Today, the export income generated by international tourism ranks fourth after fuels, chemicals and automotive products.

For many developing countries, it is one of the main income sources and the number one export category, creating much needed employment and opportunities for development.