The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) remains optimistic about the performance of the global tourism industry this year, despite the economic downturn.

Describing the financial crisis as a number of short-term challenges, Francesco Frangialli, the UNWTO secretary general, spoke about world tourism at Polytechnic University yesterday. He said that people in the US, Europe and Japan are very eager to travel. Even though the number of tourists may drop, it may be offset by outbound tourists from such emerging countries as China and South Korea, he said.

According to the secretary general, as of the end of August this year, international arrivals recorded a 3.8 percent increase compared with the same period last year.

"I remain very positive of the 2008 overall performance, even though I have only figures up until August," he said. "It is not an economic depression like the one in 1929. People still like to travel unless they lose their jobs and cannot pay the mortgage."

He went on to say that outbound tourists from emerging countries have great potential.

"In 2007, 40 million Chinese nationals traveled abroad, and so did 6 million Koreans," he said. "Even though China's economic growth is estimated to go down to 9 percent this year, we expect the number of international travelers will increase."

But he predicted tourism spending will fall faster than the number of tourists.

(HK Edition 11/27/2008 page1)