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Tourism bright spot in global economy: UN body

AFP, Madrid
Global tourism has adapted well to the economic crisis, with international arrivals expected to rise by nearly four percent this year, the head of the UN World Tourism Organisation told AFP.
But Taleb Rifai, secretary general of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, warned that travel taxes, particularly against the aviation industry, risked "severely affecting" that recovery.
Tourism figures worldwide were hit hard by the 2008 global financial crisis, with the rise in international arrivals that year slowing to 2.1 percent after having jumped 6.6 percent in the previous year.
Arrivals plunged by 3.8 percent in 2009, its worst performance in 60 years, as the outbreak of the swine flu virus helped persuade cash-strapped consumers to stay home.
But international tourism arrivals bounced back the following year, rising 6.6 percent in 2010 and by 5.0 percent in 2011 even though global economic crisis had not yet ended.
"The only good news that is coming from the economy is coming from tourism," Rifai told AFP in an interview at the UNWTO's headquarters in Madrid.
"The tourism sector, against all odds.
managed to adjust itself to the crisis. It's a very flexible industry," said the Jordanian executive.
But Rifai also warned: "Travel taxes are becominga real issue forus.
"We are worried about the aviation industry because most of the taxes that are being placed on tourism now are on transport, and particularly aviation.
"It's becoming really alarming.
"We are concerned that the ability of people to fly and the competitiveness of this sector will become severely affected by that. Especially when there are still very serious possibilities of a major hike in oil prices.
"It's an issue that mainly affects traffic from Europe but after all 52 to 55 percent of world travellers are coming out of Europe. It's a global issue."
This year however, the figures are encouraging.
The number of international tourist arrivals worldwide grew by 5.0 percent during the first half of 2012 to 467 million, with the Asia-Pacific region posting the strongest gains.
"We are still expecting that we will close this year with (a rise in international tourist arrivals) at between 3.0 and 4.0 percent. I think it will be close to 4.0 percent now, "said Rifai.