FACTS :

• Tourism is one of the leading engines of economic growth, job creation and income re-distribution around the world today. Accounting for $ 883 billion USD in 2006, put another way, international tourism earns nearly $ 2.4 billion USD per day.
• Between 1995 and 2005 the number of international travelers increased at a rate of 4.1 percent annually, exceeding 883 million in 2005 and is expected to reach 1.6 billion by 2020. This represents the largest peacetime, non-migratory population movement in history.
• Like any other industry in the 21^st century, tourism has a powerful and transformative effect on local landscapes; economies, cultures and environments. Unlike other industries, tourism relies on the original attractiveness of local landscapes for its own survival. As such, the tourism economy cannot be as blindly developed as other industries, and requires unique attention to sustainable management if the benefits and revenues of tourism are to be ongoing.