Tourism development in the Maldives ranks 8th

Maldives ranks 7th in the world among countries with the fastest rates of tourism and travel growth, according to a survey by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) and Oxford Economic Forecasting (OEF).

For the third time, Montenegro is first, with a tourism growth rate of 10.2%. China and India rank second and third, with growth rates of 8.7% and 8%, respectively. Romania (7.9%), Croatia (7.6%), Vietnam (7.5%), Latvia (7.3%), the Maldives (7.2%), Albania (7%) and Cambodia (7%) round out the top ten.

A Tourism Satellite Accounting (TSA) result showed that the world’s tourism industry recorded a growth rate of 5.7% in 2005, earning $6tril. With the current growth rate, the total turnover from tourism will reach $6.5tril in 2006, increasing by 4.6% over 2005 and creating 2.5mil new jobs. There will be 76.7mil people working in the tourism sector, accounting for 2.8% of the total jobs worldwide, while the total turnover from travellers’ expenses will be around $900bil, an increase of 6.5% over last year.

TSA forecast that in the ten years from 2007-2016 the world’s tourism growth rate will be 4.2% per annum.

Source: Vietnam net