I love traveling. Admittedly, I haven’t had the chance to travel as much as I want, but I hope to eventually visit every continent. And it turns out a lot of other people agree with me in regards to loving to travel as international tourism reached 1 billion visitors in 2012.
So where are most of these people going? Turns out that North America is extremely popular with 434.4 billion dollars being spent on traveling to the United States, and 63.7 billion being spent in Mexico. I wonder how much of that money is spent at Walt Disney World, Cancun, and New York City?
Europe is also very popular, with nearly 103 million spent traveling to France. Spain attracts another 78.5 million dollars worth of spending, while 71.6 dollars is spent in Italy. I speak a little Italian, so I hope to head to Italy some day. Additionally, 58.3 million is spent in Germany. I am a bit surprised that the United Kingdom doesn’t reach the top 9, but I guess the UK has fallen out of favor with international tourists
34 percent of people travel to visit family or to receive medical care. 15 percent travel for business and professional reasons. That leaves the 51 percent of people who travel for leisure.
All of this tourism generates 255 million jobs worldwide, a huge number in a world home to about 7 billion people (according to the World Bank). Besides jobs, tourism helps upgrade local infrastructure, increase local spending, and other things. That’s a big boon for any local economy.
Check out the rest of this kick ass infographic and it’s kick ass maps and charts, as provided by Destination Marketing.
