World Tourism

Tourism is travel for predominantly recreational or leisure purposes or the provision of services to support this leisure travel. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people who "travel to and stay in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes not related to the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited". Tourism has become a popular global leisure activity. In 2006, there were over 846 million international tourist arrivals

Tourism is vital for many countries such as Egypt, Thailand and many island nations such as Fiji, due to the large intake of money for businesses with their goods and services and the opportunity for employment in the service industries associated with tourism. These service industries include transportation services such as cruise ships and taxis, accommodation such as hotels and entertainment venues, and other hospitality industry services such as resorts.

Most visited countries

The World Tourism Organization, recognizes ten countries as the most visited in 2006 by number of travellers. Most are on the European continent.

Rank	Country	Continent	International tourist
			arrivals (2006)
1	France	Europe	79.1 million
2	Spain	Europe	58.5 million
3	United States	North America	51.1 million
4	China	Asia	49.6 million
5	Italy	Europe	41.1 million
6	United Kingdom	Europe	30.1 million
7	Germany	Europe	23.6 million
8	Mexico	North America	21.4 million
9	Austria	Europe	20.3 million
10	Russia	Europe	20.1 million