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By Okorie Uguru
The United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UN Tourism) has released its World Tourism Barometer, an international tourism report for 2025. In the report, the African continent’s tourism industry saw a steady rise, post COVID 19, increasing by 8 per cent in 2025, 50 per cent more than the global trend. This is part of the general strong travel demand around the world. Africa saw 81 million in arrivals in 2025, with particularly strong results in North Africa (+11%).
According to the report, international tourist arrivals (overnight visitors) grew by four per cent in 2025, as most destinations worldwide posted solid results. An estimated 1.52 billion international tourists were recorded globally in 2025, almost 60 million more than in 2024.
These numbers reflect a return to pre-pandemic growth trends, closer to the 5% average increase per year between 2009 and 2019. Results were driven by strong demand, robust performance from large source markets and the ongoing recovery of destinations in Asia and the Pacific. Increased air connectivity and enhanced visa facilitation also supported international travel in 2025.
UN Tourism Secretary-General Shaikha Alnuwais said: “Demand for travel remained high throughout 2025, despite high inflation in tourism services and uncertainty from geopolitical tensions. We expect this positive trend to continue into 2026 as the global economy is expected to remain steady and destinations still lagging behind pre pandemic levels fully recover.”
UN Tourism expects this positive trend to continue into 2026 as the global economy is expected to remain steady, and destinations still lagging behind pre pandemic levels expected to fully recover.
Europe, the world’s largest destination region, recorded 793 million international tourists in 2025, a 4% increase from 2024 and 6% more than in 2019. Western Europe (+5%) and Southern Mediterranean Europe (+3%) saw robust performance. Central and Eastern Europe rebounded strongly (+6%) though arrivals remained 9% below 2019 levels.
The Americas (218 million) recorded 1% growth last year, with mixed results across sub-regions. After a strong first half of 2025, the region saw small declines in Q3 and Q4, partly due to weak results in the United States. South America (+7%) and Central America (+5%) led the results by sub-region. Some destinations in the Caribbean (+0%) were affected by Hurricane Melissa in the last quarter of the year.
The Middle East recorded 3% growth in 2025, equivalent to 39% above pre-pandemic levels, the strongest results relative to 2019. The region virtually reached the mark of 100 million international visitors in 2025.
Arrivals in Asia and the Pacific (331 million) grew 6% last year but are still 9% below 2019 levels as the region continued to rebound. North-East Asia led performance with 13% growth over 2024, while South Asia recovered pre-pandemic levels.
The positive results in international arrivals last year are also reflected in other industry indicators. As shown in the UN Tourism Data Dashboard, both international air capacity and air passenger traffic grew 7% through October 2025 (IATA). Global occupancy in accommodation establishments reached 66% in November 2025, matching the levels of November 2024 (based on STR data).
