Recently, the United Nations World Tourism Organisation has released its latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer and the flood of global travelers looking to journey beyond their borders is stronger than ever.
Numbers indicate that destinations worldwide received 369 million international tourists (overnight visitors) in the first four months of 2017 -- a whopping 21 million more than in the same few months of 2016.
Perhaps even more surprising are the report's figures highlighting the fastest-growing tourist destinations in 2017, based on international arrivals.
In Southeast Asia region, the report listed down Vietnam as the one and the only country that wins the top 10 spot!
The data also reveals that countries recently plagued by terrorism or political unrest -- such as Egypt and Tunisia -- still have the tourism pull to rebound from a downward turn.
Intrigued? Here are UNWTO's fastest-growing tourist destinations in 2017, along with their growth rates, and their full-year figures for 2016.
1. Palestinian territories: up 57.8%. (400,000 visitors in 2016).
2. Egypt: up 51%. (5.26 million visitors in 2016).
3. Northern Mariana Islands: up 37.3%. (531,000 visitors in 2016).
4. Iceland: up 34.9%. (1.79 million visitors in 2016).
5. Tunisia: up 32.5%. (5.7 million visitors in 2016).
7. Uruguay: up 30.2%. (3 million visitors in 2016).
8. Nicaragua: up 28.4%. (1.5 million visitors in 2016).
9. Mongolia: up 28.3%. (404,000 visitors in 2016).
10. Israel: up 25.1%. (2.9 million visitors in 2016).
Source : CNN Travel
