Travel to Latin America
Latin America is the sub-region of the Americas constituting those nations where Romance languages are spoken, mainly Spanish and Portuguese. Latin America comprises of twenty sovereign states which cover an area that extends from the southern border of the United States to the southern tip of South America, including the Caribbean. Latin America has an area of about 19,197,000 km2, only about 13% of the world’s land surface area.
As of 2013, its population was estimated at approximately 604 million and in 2014, Latin America has a combined nominal GDP of 5,573,397 million USD, which is almost equivalent to those of the United Kingdom and France combined, and a GDP PPP of 7,531,585 million USD which is also bigger than those of India, and Japan and the United Kingdom combined. The expression “Latin America” was first used in 1861 in La revue des races Latines, a magazine “dedicated to the cause of Pan-Latinism”.
Latin America’s tour and tourism sector took a hit during the 2008–2009 recessions. International arrivals in the area reduced and travelers had less money to spend. However, over the longer term, the tourism industry in Latin America has a success story and forecasts suggest continued growth.
That should astonish nobody. Latin America’s sheer diversity in scenic beauty, cooking, and cultures has combined with an increasingly complex domestic industry to cater to every sort of tourist.
Since 2006, tourism’s contribution to the national GDP of Latin America has increased by 7% in real terms more than doubles the world average to reach an expected $134 billion in 2011. This figure, which is expected to increase to $224 billion in 2022, includes revenue generated by tourism-oriented services, for example, hotels and airlines, and additionally restaurant and leisure industries that cater to travelers. Figures Forecasts for this year suggest tourism’s direct contributions will increase by 6.5%, behind just Northeast and South Asia (6.7%).
But individual nation performance fluctuates. Economic development and government prioritization of tourism led a shocking 50% increase in direct GDP contribution in Peru, however a decline of about 40% in Suriname since 2006. Brazil, Latin America’s biggest country, is additionally its tourism power player. Tourism directly contributed an estimated $84.6 billion to national GDP a year ago, with 5.4 million international tourists.
Travel and tourism’s economic contributions to the region jump essentially to an estimated $364.3 billion in 2011—when considering direct and indirect contributions, for example, capital investment, supply chain effects, and the leisure and household spending of those employed directly or by indirectly in tourism. The regional forecast is for these total contributions to increase by 5.7% in 2012 and by an average of 4.7% yearly through 202.
