ANALYSING INTERNATIONAL TOURISM CIRCULATION STRUCTURE SPATIALLY

Abstract

International tourism is the most dynamic component of tourism circulation. According to prognoses, the number of tourists worldwide is steadily increasing in 2008, after the record year 2007, despite economic uncertainties. In 2007, there have been 898,000,000 tourists that took trips to certain areas of the world, with 6.2% more tourists than in 2006. The main tourism destinations were France and Spain, but as far as international tourism circulation per regions is concerned, the most considerable growth compared to 2006 was that of the Middle East (13.4%), followed by Central America (11.1%) and Africa (7.9%). Europe has a growth of only 4.2% in 2007, compared to the reference year 2006, but despite all this, it still ranks first from the point of view of the total number of visitors (480,100,000 tourists), which recommends it as a main cultural destination worldwide.

Keywords

• international tourism
• tourism circulation
• total number of tourists
• tourist destinations