The table shows how many international travellers were from different regions—Africa, America, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East—in five-year intervals between 1990 and 2005. Overall, the total number of international travellers grew steadily over the 15-year period, with Europe being the most visited region. While both America and Asia and the Pacific experienced noticeable changes, the reverse scenario was true for the Middle East and Africa.
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Europe attracted by far the highest number of travellers throughout the entire period, increasing from 280.2 million in 1990 to 400.2 million in 2005. This region was thus the major contributor to the growth in the total number, which saw a considerable rise from an initial 448.9 million to a final 693.7 million travelers.
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Asia and the Pacific, along with America, followed similar trends, albeit less substantially. Starting at 60.2 million in 1990, the former witnessed a virtually twofold increase to 135.8 million during the period, reporting the most dramatic change and surpassing the latter. Despite initially starting with a relatively higher number of international travellers of 80.2 million and peaking at 118.2 million after a decade, the figure for America declined slightly, eventually accounting for 113.2 million and marking the only decrease among the regions.
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However, Africa and the Middle East were the least visited areas over 15 years, with respective overseas travellers of 18.2 and 9.8 million in the first year. By 2005, these numbers had grown marginally, ultimately constituting 28.7 and 15.8 million, respectively.
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