Page 140 - MOET ENGLISH PR REPORT - AUGUST 2025

9/1/25, 4:29 PM Working with the Global South to chart a course through rising tourism | The National
Working with the Global South to chart a course

through rising tourism

The National Editorial

Insight and opinion from The National’s editorial leadership

August 29, 2025
Seven centuries ago, Ibn Battuta, the famed North African traveller, began a brief pilgrimage to

Makkah that turned into a 29-year journey involving shipwrecks, kidnappings, political coups, royal
meetings and the Black Death. Although few people today would aspire to have such an eventful
journey, more adventurous travellers than ever are seeking new destinations to explore, many of them
in the Global South.

This is big business. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, travellers contributed $10.9
trillion to the global economy last year, passing pre-pandemic levels and accounting for 10 per cent of
worldwide gross domestic product. Although specific figures for developing nations are only beginning

to emerge, according to the World Tourism Barometer from UN Tourism, Africa alone received about
74 million international tourist arrivals, which was 7 per cent more than in 2019 and 12 per cent more
than in 2023.

Many relative newcomers to international tourism are working hard to exploit their untapped potential.
Foreign visitors to Uzbekistan, for example, rose from about one million in 2016 to approximately
seven million in 2023 as the country’s government invested in developing and promoting its Silk Road
heritage.

https://www.thenationalnews.com/opinion/editorial/2025/08/29/un-tourism-travel-economy-business/ 1/3