Asia-Pacific's Tourism Recovery Falls Behind Global Peers

Global tourism arrivals grew by 5 percent worldwide in the first nine months of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, as some 1.1 billion tourists travelled internationally, according to provisional data by the UN’s World Tourism Barometer. After the setbacks caused by the pandemic, the tourism industry has largely rebounded to 2019 levels. Between January and September this year, the UN reports a three percent increase in the number of international tourist arrivals, which counts as overnight visitors, compared to the same period in 2019.

But the gains have not been experienced equally. As the following chart shows, the Asia-Pacific is still down 10 percent compared to the first nine-month stint of 2019. This is even considering the 8 percent increase in tourist arrivals between January and September of this year and last. The region of the Americas is the only other region still below the 2019 mark, albeit marginally. Meanwhile, the Middle East has seen the greatest growth since 2019, at +33 percent. It is followed by Africa at +19 percent.

That being said, all world regions saw higher arrival numbers in the first nine months of 2025 compared to those of 2024. Africa saw the strongest performance at +10 percent, with both North Africa (+11 percent) and Sub-Saharan Africa (+10 percent) recording double-digit growth.

Europe remained the region to receive the most arrivals. Between January and September 2025, it counted 625 million international tourists, up four percent from the same months in 2024. The Americas, meanwhile, saw 2 percent growth through September, with South America seeing the strongest performance (+9 percent from Jan.-Sep. 2024), compared to North America (-1 percent) and Central America (+ 3 percent) and the Caribbean (+1 percent).

The countries with the highest growth rates in Jan-Sep 2025 were Brazil (+45 percent versus first nine months 2025), Vietnam and Egypt (+21 percent), Ethiopia and Japan (+18 percent). Also popular were South Africa (+17 percent), Sri Lanka and Mongolia (16 percent) and Morocco (14 percent). These destinations have all already surpassed 2019 levels.