Brief overview
Drylands can be popular tourist destinations. People may travel to drylands to view specific plants and animals such as endemic species that have special adaptations to these variable environments. Drylands exhibit unique landscape features such as rocky mesas and dramatic sunsets that attract rock-hounds and photographers. Some recreationists rely on drylands for hiking and camping, others may regard specific dryland sites as culturally and spiritually important.
Map 39Selected Tourist Attractions In Drylands
Map description
What are some specific tourist attractions in drylands? Map 39 plots selected tourist attractions – by region and dryland countries. This map is not comprehensive but helps to provide context for the following discussions.
To develop a rough estimation of trends in tourism within drylands, we summarized data from countries that are predominantly dryland – countries with at least 90 percent of their land area considered dryland. The World Tourism Organization (WTO) and the World Bank provide data on the number of international tourists and the amount of international tourism receipts for various countries around the world. The data are collected primarily from questionnaires sent to government offices and supplemented with published data from other official sources. The number of international inbound tourists is the number of visitors traveling to a foreign country for purposes other than business. These data refer to the number of visitors arriving rather than the number of persons traveling. Thus, a visitor making several trips to a country during a given period is counted each time as a new arrival. International visitors include tourists (overnight visitors), same-day visitors, cruise passengers, and crew members. These receipts include any other prepayment for goods or services received in the country being visited. The share of receipts in exports is calculated as a ratio of goods and services to exports. Although progress has been made in harmonizing definitions and measurement units for these data, differences in practices of data collection and reporting among countries still prevent full international comparability.
Of the 14 predominantly dryland countries (with data available), 10 experienced an increase in the number of international tourists between 1990 and 2000. Iran’s increase in number of tourists over this period was the largest (1,004 percent) followed by Kuwait (413 percent), Burkina Faso (195 percent), and Namibia (188 percent). Four countries experienced a decrease in number of international tourists: Moldova, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Gambia (Table 13).
Of 13 predominantly dryland countries, 9 experienced an increase in international tourism receipts between 1990 and 2000. These receipts include all payments for goods and services by international inbound visitors. Iran, Burkina Faso, and Namibia experienced increases of over 200 percent, ranging from 239 percent for Namibia to 1,294 percent for Iran. Iraq experienced the largest decline in international tourism receipts (76 percent); two countries remained very low and constant in receipts over this 10-year period: Afghanistan and Moldova.
In 2000, international tourism receipts contributed up to 23 percent of exports in these dryland countries and over 18 percent of total exports in 5 countries: Tunisia (17 percent), Namibia (18 percent), Gambia (19 percent), Morocco (20 percent), and Turkmenistan (23 percent). While not approaching figures of top countries for number of international tourists (e.g., 51 million for USA) or international tourism receipts (e.g., $85 million for USA), international tourism contributes a greater percent of total exports for some dryland countries than for other countries with more tourists (e.g., 8 percent in USA vs. 23 percent in Turkmenistan).
Sources
World Bank. 2002. World Development Indicators. International Bank, Washington, DC. 405pp.
