Africa emerged as the global leader in tourism growth in 2025, outpacing Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific region in terms of expansion momentum.
According to the latest UN Tourism Barometer, the continent welcomed approximately 81.3 million international visitors—a 7.8% increase over the 75.4 million arrivals recorded in 2024.
That total stands as the strongest since before the health crisis and comfortably clears the 69.6 million benchmark set in 2019.
“The World Tourism Barometer, published by the UN World Tourism Organisation, tracks short-term global travel trends and provides up-to-date insights for policymakers, investors, and industry stakeholders,” the organisation stated.
In-depth examination of the figures shows Africa pulling ahead of Asia and the Pacific on growth speed.
While Asia pushed forward with its post-crisis rebound, the African region posted the most vigorous advance of 2025, fuelled by outstanding results in North Africa and solid gains at leading destinations continent-wide.
“Africa performed strongest in 2025, while Asia and the Pacific continued to rebound. Europe recorded four percent growth, Asia and the Pacific six percent, and the Americas a more modest one percent expansion. Africa saw an eight percent increase in arrivals, with particularly strong results in North Africa (11 percent),” the report said.
Morocco, the continent’s flagship tourism market, drew one percent more international arrivals and edged close to the 20-million visitor milestone.
Further standouts included South Africa, which climbed 19 percent, Ethiopia rising 15 percent, Seychelles advancing 13 percent, and Tunisia together with Sierra Leone each adding one percent during the first 11 to 12 months.
Across the Middle East, arrivals expanded three percent in 2025, leaving the region 39 percent above pre-pandemic levels and approaching 100 million visitors.
Egypt logged the fastest expansion at two percent, followed by Jordan at 12 percent, Bahrain at 11 percent, and Qatar at four percent.
Tourism’s revival is now reaching deeper into Africa, stretching well beyond the traditional North African beach and heritage hotspots to embrace safari zones and business-travel arteries throughout the continent, a recent African Leadership Magazine report observed.
“For many African economies, tourism remains a critical source of foreign exchange, employment, and small-business activity, directly supporting balance-of-payments stability and creating fiscal space for infrastructure, skills development, and environmental conservation,” it said.
A white paper issued by the Southern Africa Tourism Services Association in collaboration with Futureneer Advisors underlined the trend, revealing that adventure tourism in South Africa alone generated about $656 million in direct revenue in 2024 and supported roughly 91,000 jobs countrywide.
Worldwide, international tourist arrivals rose four percent to an estimated 1.52 billion travellers—some 60 million more than in 2024—establishing a fresh post-pandemic high, UN Tourism reported.
Europe, the globe’s largest destination bloc, welcomed 793 million tourists, up four percent year-on-year and six percent above 2019 volumes.
Western Europe grew five percent and Southern Mediterranean Europe three percent, while Central and Eastern Europe recovered but remained nine percent below pre-pandemic levels.
Global tourism export revenues touched a record $2.2 trillion, climbing five percent from 2024.
Markets posting the strongest receipt increases, measured in local currencies, were Morocco at 19 percent, the Republic of Korea at 18 percent, Egypt at 17 percent, Mongolia at 15 percent, Japan at 14 percent, Latvia at 11 percent, and Mauritius at 10 percent.
Tourism professionals gave 2026 prospects a rating of 126 on a 0–200 confidence index, pointing to expectations of another solid year even if slightly softer than 2025’s 129 score.
UN Tourism forecasts global travel to expand three to four percent, resting on sustained recovery in Asia and the Pacific, stable world economic conditions, moderating tourism-service inflation, and no intensification of geopolitical conflicts.
Geopolitical tensions, trade frictions, climate risks, and lingering cost pressures nonetheless remain major downside threats to travel confidence.
Still, demand should receive support from firm consumer spending, expanding air connectivity—with available airline seats projected to rise .percentt, according to IATA—and stronger outbound travel from emerging markets.
Landmark international occasions, including the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy and the 2026 FIFA World Cup staged across Canada, the United States, and Mexico, are also set to give additional lift to cross-border visitor flows.
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