Experts are now hoping that global tourism will rebound strongly in 2010. This rebound would come after a very difficult year for global travel thanks to things like the swine flu and the credit crisis. The UN World Tourism Organization predicts growth of between 3 and 4 percent in 2010 after a fourth quarter recovery in 2009. This does follow a less than expected 4 percent fall to 880 million international arrivals in 2009. The less than expected fall was due to surprising growth in Asia, Pacific and Middle East regions.

The UN World Tourism Organization secretary general, Taleb Rifai, said that the global economic crisis, aggravated by the uncertainty around the world, turned 2009 into one of the toughest years for the tourism sector. However, the results in recent months suggest that recovery is on the way, and even somewhat earlier than what a lot had predicted in the first place.

Taleb said that the 2010 growth outlook was confirmed by the remarkable rise of the WNWTO Panel of Experts Confidence index. Despite this good news, he did warn that 2010 would still be a very challenging year overall. He pointed out that many countries were quick in reacting to the crisis and actively implemented measures to mitigate its impact and stimulate recovery. Although the world can expect growth in 2010, a premature withdrawal of these stimulus measures and the temptation to impose extra taxes may jeopardize the rebound of tourism overall.

Places like Europe and North America are lagging behind other areas like the Middle East in Asia as far as recovery goes. By region, Europe has fared the worst in the downturn, finishing 2009 with a 6 percent downturn due to a very poor first half of the year.