SBWire

The value of the Indian rupee continued to fluctuate against the US dollar, and the depreciation of the rupee was quite high in 2013, which made India an affordable destination for inbound tourism. This contributed to strong growth of arrivals, though the total number continued to be much lower than departures.

Ephesus is one of the most famous classical cities in the world, and even appeared in a Shakespeare play. Home to one of the seven ancient wonders of the world, it is an historic center for trade and culture, which shines to this day in its captivating archeological sites. Many holidaymakers to Turkey, especially those visiting neighboring resort town Kusadasi, wish to see this historic place and make the best of all it has to offer. Private Tour specializes in personalized itineraries in and around Turkey and has now created a comprehensive tour of Ephesus.

Domestic tourism in India recorded steady growth in 2013 of 18% in terms of the number of trips. Growth continued to be driven primarily by religious tourism, with Tirupati, one of the richest temples in the world, being the most sought after by travellers. Most tourists that travelled to Andhra Pradesh stayed over for a day and paid a visit to the temple before returning. Tirupati continued to be one of the most sought after religious pilgrim sites in India in 2013.

With the World Cup now behind, Brazil is likely to focus on completing planned infrastructure projects and preparing for the 2016 Olympic Games. However, key challenges for the tourism industry in 2015 include the recession in Brazil and the likely slowdown in tourist arrivals from Argentina.

Tourists consumer habits were reflected in tourist attractions in 2013. The decline in domestic tourists purchasing power severely influenced the sales levels of tourist attractions in 2013. The reason for not decreasing substantially was the increase in the number of internationals to tourist attractions in 2013.

Hungarian tourism in 2013 was driven by dynamic growth of incoming tourists and accordingly via rising incoming tourism receipts. The rapidly decreasing local currency exchange rate against the Euro made the country an affordable destination, especially compared to its main rivals Czech Republic and Austria. The expanded route network of low cost carriers made the country easily accessible for various types of tourists. At the same time, Hungarians travelled less in 2013 - domestic trips...

As a strong and stable economic climate returns to the UAE following the end of the economic crisis in 2011, and employment and income levels begin to rise again, consumers across all incomes levels are regaining economic confidence and starting to spend again on outbound travel. As a result, the number of trips taken by residents in the UAE has been growing steadily year-on-year so that tourism flows outbound recorded a growth rate of 7% in terms of number of flights for 2013, one percentage point up from the previous year?s growth figure, and almost twice the growth rate recorded for the review period when a CAGR of 4% was recorded.

Tourist attractions in 2013 continued to be primarily driven by visits to historic buildings/sites. India, with its rich heritage and history, continued to attract a large number of travellers due to its architectural styles, from different periods, dynasties and types of craftsmanship. Furthermore, with the help of ASI (the Archaeological Survey of India), most of these buildings are well maintained and looked after, which helped them to attract more tourists.

Regardless of all the financial adversity that has been affecting Europe, and in particular Portugal, the travel and tourism industry was capable of adapting to this harsh landscape and the most important indicators registered solid performances. Turismo de Portugal's efforts to promote the industry, whether internally or abroad, and its alliances with local associations were crucial in achieving positive results.

Despite revising our growth forecasts for the Croatian tourism market downwards since 2014, we still expect to see the industry grow healthily over the coming y ears. Accession to the EU, combined with a general recovery in the economies of many European source markets, will continue to boost arrivals to the country by around a million over the forecast period and this will lead to positive developments across all other key market indicators with the exception of outbound tourism, which remains at risk of stagnation due to a relatively flat domestic economy.

Tourist attractions in general enjoyed growing sales and visitors in 2013. The numbers of visitors to museums and historical sites increased by 6%, whilst visitors to zoos/aquariums increased by 9%. Museums are increasingly active in promoting themselves both online and offline. The White Night of museums and cultural centres is something new in Romania, and enjoys wide popularity. Some of the museums were not even known to the public until they joined the White Night programme. Many zoos were recently renovated or expanded in Romania, thus enjoying growing numbers of visitors.

In 2013 tourist attractions in Italy decreased to 1.3 billion offline value sales, whilst online value sales increased to 24 million. The number of visitors also decreased to 118 million. The main reason for the decrease in the number of visitors to tourist attractions in Italy was the economic crisis, and the fact that Italians are becoming more careful and selective when spending their free time, mainly because they are interested in saving money and are very careful about all their expenses. This behaviour was a consequence of the economic and financial crisis, and the lower available incomes of Italians, which had an effect on the overall climate of uncertainty present in the country. However, the price of the average ticket increased, with an overall impact on the volume sales recorded in the country.

In 2013, Lithuanian GDP continued to grow at 4%, which was among the fastest growing in the whole EU. A strong performance benefited both business and leisure tourism in Lithuania. A growing economy combined with growing foreign investment and improving situation within business resulted in a growing number of inbound and outbound business trips. Recovering consumer confidence and growing disposable incomes allowed Lithuanians to travel more again.

July 1, 2013 witnessed Croatia become the newest member of the EU. With all the publicity surrounding its succession and potential new investment, the tourism industry is expected to benefit the most. With the fragmented environment and lack of serious investment in tourism, the EU succession has finally brought public focus to this young country trying to become a serious tourist destination.

Spanish immersion school and educational tour company, Casa Xelaju, (http://www.casaxelaju.com) announces their 2015 Summer Tour schedule.  Registration is officially open for programs running from June 15 to June 24, with chaperone Chris Perry and from July 3  to July 12 with Chaperone Julio E. Batres.

Thousands of years back, the states was only covered with warm and shallow sea. Today, the ocean has receded, and what stays is 53 miles of earth’s surface that signifies Alabama’s shoreline.

God has gifted us with many things and the most important among them is 'The Beauty of Nature.' Nature, with its flora and fauna, is spell-binding but unfortunately, we take nature for granted. We do all the wrong things that spoil it. One such wrong activity is poaching.

For 2015, we are forecasting a slight turnaround in the beleaguered Kenyan tourism sector's fortunes, with arrival numbers set to rise by 2.5%. However, this remains dependent on a lasting improvement in the domestic security situation. We are also expecting slight rises in international tourism receipts and the number of overnight stays in 2015.

A slowdown in broader European economic growth as well as persistently slow domestic economic growth have led us to revise our predictions for the Czech tourism market downwards and we expect to see a slight decline in arrivals in 2014. This is likely to be a minor setback though as we expect positive developments across all of the key market indicators for the Czech tourism industry over the remainder of our forecast period, though faster growth in other countries may see the Czech Republic fall behind its regional rivals.

The number of visitors at tourist attractions grew by a slow 1%, and current value sales recorded 2% growth in 2013. A drop in domestic tourism combined with slowly rising prices of tickets compared to stagnating real wages contributed to the weak performance of tourist attractions in 2013. Negative impact from domestic tourists was offset by growth of inbound visitors. For them, various attractions became even more affordable due to the weak local currency. It is also worth noting that the existing domestic expenditure power is usually attributed to destinations outside of Budapest, where most of the tourist attractions are located.

Low cost airlines restructured inbound tourism over the review period. This restructuring received a boost since 2012 when national carrier Mal?v went bankrupt. No other carrier took its place and low cost carriers have already gained good positions in a price-sensitive environment. It became evident, that as in many other European countries without a national carrier, low cost carriers will dominate air travel. The government helped leading low cost carrier Wizz Air to regain international routes outside of the EU, earlier flown by Mal?v, which are dependent on interstate contracts. Expansion of low cost airlines helped to boost the number of incoming and spending along these. A growing economy, along with increasing disposable incomes in many European countries, was another factor driving incoming tourism growth. Overall, inbound arrivals grew from 2012 to 2013 by 6%, while incoming tourist receipts increased by a slower 5% in current value terms.

The image of Djibouti continued to improve as potential investors and business tourism to Djibouti registered further strong growth in 2013. The main international source markets were the European countries France and the UK, although regional tourism from neighbouring countries, including Sudan, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates and Eritrea accounted for as much as 40% of arrivals, with countries such as China, Russia and the U.S gaining popularity as trading links with these countries...

The number of outbound trips is rising due to the increasing travel budget of Romanian tourists and the improvement of air connections with major tourism destinations overseas. City breaks continue to be increasingly popular, boosting the number of outbound trips. During 2013 the raised number of legal holiday days was a good opportunity for city-break travel. There are several cheap flights offered to London, Rome, Paris, Brussels, Budapest, Madrid and Barcelona from major cities of Romania. This also offers great opportunity for city breaks and shopping tourism, especially to Milan and London.

Online travel portal Etravel Connect has launched an application for Apple devices that will help travellers search and compare tour packages across travel agencies in Singapore as well as locate the best hotel deals on the internet.

Travel & Tourism in South Africa by Mintel Market Sizes provides you with annual year-end market size data, most recently updated in 2014. This market covers domestic and international inbound tourism. Market volume is based on numbers of visitors on leisure and/or business trips which include at least one overnight stay in paid accommodation. Market size for Travel & Tourism in South Africa is given in tourist with a minimum of five years' historical data. Market Forecast is provided for five years. Included with this snapshot is socio-economic data for South Africa. Population, Consumer Price Index (CPI), Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Exchange Rates.