Global Tourism on the Rise

Passengers queue in line to check-in their flight tickets as they wait for flights at Tegel airport on January 6, 2011 in Berlin, Germany. The United Nations says global tourism rebounded last year after suffering a steep decline in 2008 and 2009. (Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)

Global tourism rebounded last year, the United Nations agency tasked with monitoring the tourism sector announced on Monday.

As a result of the global financial crisis, tourism around the world steeply declined in 2008 and 2009. But in 2010, there was an “increase in tourist arrivals in all regions,” according to the U.N. World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

The rise has been the sharpest in Asia and Africa. “The recovery in international tourism is good news, especially for those developing countries that rely on the sector for much-needed revenue and jobs,” said Secretary-General of UNWTO Taleb Rifai in a statement on Monday.

A relatively slow recovery in Europe has been attributed to the disruption of air traffic as a result of the ash cloud created when Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupted last year.