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In 2013, the Ecuadorian government announced that it had identified tourism as a key industry for spurring sustainable economic development. As part of its plan to develop the tourism industry, the Ministry of Tourism has been allotted a budget of US$150 million for each of the next four years, up from the previously-expected US$40 million per year. Some of this budget will go towards increasing international promotions, improving intra-industry collaboration, and supporting innovation. Part of...

Domestic tourism flows continued to perform moderately in 2013, with the number of trips growing by 1% to register 34 million. While leisure trips with free accommodation grew, leisure trips with paid accommodation and business trips in general within the country decreased. When looking at weekend trips with paid accommodation, Finns increasingly opted to stay in Estonia instead of domestic destinations. Estonia offered competitive prices for accommodation and other services.

Health and wellness tourism recorded current value growth of 1% in 2013, and value sales reached 54.7 million. This category, which grew healthily during 2011 and 2012, saw growth almost stagnate as both domestic and international visitors cut back on their spending on health and wellness services and products in Finland. Trips by Russian tourists to health and wellness establishments, a key source of value sales for health and wellness tourism, were moderately positive, but notably less so than in the previous years. Visits by Finns became moderately negative. Sluggish current value growth was also partly due to increasing price-based competition as companies tried to keep volumes from dropping further by offering a number of price-based promotions.

In 2013 there was 4% growth in the number of people visiting tourist attractions. There are many tourist attractions for all religions, with many historical landmarks. Israel also has the lowest point on land in the world, the Dead Sea, which attracts a great deal of attention from tourists. As Tel Aviv is becoming a modern city and centre for business and technology, more and more people are visiting the city and then touring.

Outbound travel increased in 2013, with the number of trips rising by 4% for the year. The gain was supported by a number of factors, including moderate improvement in the national economy and resulting improvement in consumer spending on travel, a long cold winter and expansion of outbound direct routes by Canada's air carriers.

Inbound trips grew 7% in 2013 to 1,366,000. Colombia and the US represent the two most important tourism sources for Ecuador in terms of trips, making up 25% and 18% of inbound tourists, respectively. Despite its large share of tourists, Colombia saw a decline of -2% of trips to Ecuador in 2013. The US saw a 1% increase.

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According to research conducted by booking search engine Trivago, average daily rates offered by hotels and other travel accommodation establishments in Bulgaria decreased in 2013 and the country continued to be the cheapest destination in Europe for the second consecutive year. As a result, demand and occupancy rates increased in 2013 and the number of both inbound and domestic tourists increased in comparison with 2012. The price decrease in 2013 was mainly initiated by hotels in summer...

Danes have a long and strong tradition of travelling abroad, mostly for long holidays during the summer months in warm destinations but also for shorter trips during the wintertime, for skiing and for those interested in enjoying the sun in warmer countries, out of Europe. One of the reasons for the custom of travelling abroad during the summer months is that Danes are known to dislike the unstable local weather conditions, as it often rains even on sunny days. Moreover, the convenience of travelling within the European borders makes it appealing for many people to take a short weekend break spontaneously and travel abroad. In 2013, the tourism flows outbound category continued to grow by 1%.

Outbound departures increased 13% to 1,156,000 trips in 2013 with spending rising 5% to US$988 million in current terms. The most popular destination for Ecuadorian travellers by far is the US, which at 395,000 trips captured 34% of all outbound departures. Following the US are Peru with 203,000 trips and Colombia with 108,000 trips. The popularity of the US as an outbound destination is mainly due to the high number of Ecuadorian immigrants living in the US. Many of these expatriate Ecuadorians have relatives who still live in Ecuador and many of them take the opportunity to visit their friends and family in the US. Regional destinations, including Peru and Colombia but also destinations like Panama and Argentina, perform well because they tend to be less expensive than transoceanic trips, for example to Europe or Asia.

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2013 saw 4% growth in the number of trips, compared with stagnation in 2012. In current value terms 2013 also saw faster growth than in 2012. This can be explained by the increase in low-cost charter flights to places such as Europe.

Travel and tourism recorded strong growth in 2013, mainly supported by a growing need from Chinese consumers for relaxation amid the quickening pace of life and increasing enthusiasm for experiencing foreign cultures and lifestyles. This robust growth was also fuelled by rising disposable incomes, which resulted in both domestic and outbound tourism being increasingly affordable to the average consumer in China, in addition to enforcement of a tourism law in 2013.

SUNBABY Glass Bottom Boat now ranks as one of the top 10 activities within Jamaica on TripAdvisor. Thousands of travelers flock to Jamaica each year to experience Jamaica’s beautiful beaches, breathtaking natural beauty and snorkeling opportunities. SUNBABY Boat has captured this market by providing some of the best water activities to travelers in Negril.

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Tourist attractions' performance in 2013 trended with the dynamics of overall travel and tourism, with moderate value growth and relatively flat volume growth reflecting slow increases in visitor counts and spending. Domestic travellers are an important source of business for tourist attractions, particularly given the greater number of domestic trips compared to inbound trips as well as the faster rise in number of people and spending by domestic tourists.

The marketing plan from 2012-2022 is to increase tourism to Dominica's major cities and national parks, Roseau and Portsmouth. Buildings and beachfronts are being upgraded. Dominica is also moving some businesses to create more space along the beachfront to allow for more tourists. Old Market Square in Roseau is becoming a plaza. They are adding more cafes and seats for tourists to relax, and adding more public entertainment. Portsmouth is becoming the main attraction city with its new hotels...

While several categories grew strongly in 2012, this development was reversed in 2013, when the performance in many areas was sluggish or even registered a decline. Worst affected were travel accommodation and transportation, with both recording a volume sales decline in 2013 (travel accommodation in the number of outlets and bed nights, transportation in the number of people travelling by air). The average unit price of hotels grew in previous years in current terms, but declined slightly in...

Growth generally remained strong across all categories of tourist attractions in Ecuador, with the exception of casino sales and trips and national park sales. Casinos were banned country-wide in 2011, and national park fees were eliminated in 2011, causing sales to plummet but trips to spike. The overall strength of Ecuador's tourist attractions is due in large part to increasing international attention on Ecuador's natural and cultural draws. Growth across the attractions landscape coincides with the Ministry of Tourism's current international promotional campaign, "All You Need is Ecuador," which seeks to position Ecuador as a destination with diverse offerings contained within one country.

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Ecuador continued to experience significant development in the offer of luxury travel accommodation in 2013, much of which was closely related to rising demand for health and wellness tourism. Many of Ecuador's high-end travel accommodation outlets are becoming increasingly sophisticated and strive to offer increasingly luxurious services to visitors, including onsite health and wellness facilities. This trend will continue as a result of increased international attention on Ecuador due to winning a number of travel awards in 2013 as well as the Ministry of Tourism's national tourism campaign depicting Ecuador as a destination with both strong ecological attractions and luxury offerings.

BMI maintains a broadly optimistic stance towards the UAE's tourism sector at the mid-point of 2014. We forecast 8.3% growth in tourist arrivals from all regions, with tourism receipts set to rise by around 9.4% in US dollar terms.