Tourism: hotel nights

Arrivals of non-resident tourists staying in hotels and similar establishments

Average annual growth in percentage,

1998-2005 or latest available period

Over the period as a whole, the United States recorded the largest number of arrivals in hotels and similar establishments followed by China, France, Italy and Spain. The 9/11 terrorist attacks resulted in sharp falls in arrivals in the United Kingdom, Mexico and the United States but did not noticeably affect arrivals in most other countries. Countries in central and eastern Europe have recorded strong increases in arrivals since 1990. The graph shows annual growth in arrivals of non-residents averaged over the period since 1998.

Arrivals declined in Brazil, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway and Greece but grew at 6% per year or more in New Zealand, Iceland, Japan, India, Slovak Republic, Turkey and China.

Tourism 2020 Vision is the World Tourism Organization’s (UNWTO) long-term forecast and assessment of the development of tourism up to the first 20 years of the new millennium. It forecasts that international arrivals will reach over 1.56 billion by the year 2020. East Asia and the Pacific, South Asia, the Middle East and Africa are forecasted to record growth at rates of over 5% per year, compared with the world average of 4.1%. The more mature tourism regions, Europe and the Americas, are expected to show lower than average growth rates. Europe will maintain the highest share of world arrivals, although there will be a decline from 60% in 1995 to 46% in 2020.

Trade to GDP ratios

Difference between 2005 and 1992 ratios

in percentage points

In 2005, the unweighted average of the trade-to-GDP ratios for all OECD countries was 45% and 51% for the EU15. For the reasons noted above, there were large differences in these ratios across countries. The ratios exceeded 50% for small countries—Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Neth-erlands and the Slovak Republic—but were under 15% for the two largest OECD countries—Japan and the United States. Between 1992 and 2005, trade-to-GDP ratios for the OECD as a whole increased by 13 percentage points, and the EU15 increased by 14 points. Substantial increases in trade-to-GDP ratios were recorded for Luxembourg, Hungary and Belgium.

Households with access to a home computer

Percentage of all households,

2005 or latest available year

n Penetration rates are highest in Iceland, Denmark, Japan, Sweden, Korea, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Norway and the United Kingdom where 70 % or more of households had access to a home computer by 2005. On the other hand, shares in Turkey, Mexico, the Czech Republic and Greece were below 40%. Between 2001 and 2005, the percentages of households with access to a home computer increased particularly sharply in Japan, the United Kingdom and Germany. The picture with regard to Internet access is similar. In Korea, Iceland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland and Sweden, more than 70% of households had Internet access by 2005. In Turkey, Mexico and the Czech Republic, on the other hand, only about one-fifth or less had Internet access by 2005. Data on Internet access by household composition—with or without dependent children—are available for most OECD countries. In general, they show that households with children were more likely to have Internet access at home in 2004.

Ratio of the inactive

population aged 65 and over to the labor force

Percentage

n  The youngest populations (low shares of population aged 65 or over) are either in countries with high birth rates such as Mexico, Iceland and Turkey or in countries with high immigration, such as Australia, Canada and New Zealand. All these countries will, however, experience significant ageing over the next 50 years. The dependency ratio (right panel of the table) is projected to be close to 50% in Belgium, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy and Japan by 2020. This means that, for each elderly inactive person, there will be only two persons in the labor force. The lowest dependency ratios, under 25%, are projected for Iceland, Korea, Mexico and Turkey. All countries will experience a further sharp increase in the dependency ratio over the period 2020 to 2050.