THIS IS EVEN MORE SIGNIFICANT
if we take into account transport modal
competition. Over the last 17 years,
aviation has been the first contributor to
international tourist arrival growth with a
5.5% yearly average growth of tourists
arriving by air (compared with 4.1% for
road transport, 2.3% for sea transport
and 1.5% for rail transport). As a result,
the share of tourists travelling to their final
destination by air has grown from 45%
in 1995 to 58% in 2012.
Aviation is expected to further benefit
from the growth prospects for tourism
development. According to “Tourism
2020 Vision”, the World Tourism
Organisation’s long term forecast, the
number of tourists is expected to grow
from 1.1 billion tourists currently up to
1.6 billion by 2020. This corresponds to
an impressive 5.7% compound annual
growth rate over the next 7 years.