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Nov 18, 2008
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Tourism by World Region

In 2006, most international travel was undertaken for the purpose of leisure and recreation (51%), reaching a total of 430 million. Business travel accounted for some 16% of the total (131 million) and another 27% covered travel for other motives, such as visiting friends and relatives, religious purposes, and health treatments (225 million).

Just about half of all international tourists arrived over land by road (43%) or rail (4%) to their destination in 2006. Air transport represented 46% of arrivals and transport over water accounted for 7%.

Region 2006
market
share
Europe 54.4%
 Northern Europe 6.5
 Western Europe 17.7
 Central/Eastern Europe 10.8
 Southern/Mediterranean
  Europe		 19.5
Asia and the Pacific 19.8
 Northeast Asia 11.1%
 Southeast Asia 6.4
 Oceania 1.2
 South Asia 1.0
Americas 16.1
 North America 10.7
 Caribbean 2.3
 Central America 0.8%
 South America 2.2
Africa 4.8
 North Africa 1.8
 Subsaharan Africa 3.0
Middle East 4.9
Source: World Tourism Organization (WTO). Web: www.world-tourism.org .

Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

The World's Top Tourism Destinations Travel Statistics International Destinations of American Tourists, 2004
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