Part II. In many ways, this off-the-beaten-track holiday represents the future of global tourism

In many ways, this off-the-beaten-track holiday represents the future of global tourism. Despite difficulties, international and domestic tourism is expected to grow fast over the next two decades. While a global recession and the terrorist attacks of 9/11 pushed down tourist numbers in 2001 for the 1^st time since 1982, the impact was less than many had expected. Longer term trends, including a rise in global wealth, improving transport technology, cheaper flights and the use of the Internet as a travel tool, will make it possible for more people around the world to travel than ever before. Last year there were 693 million international tourist arrivals. The World Tourism Organization expects that number to increase to more than 1 billion by 2010. Future tourism will also want to do different things. While sun-and-sea tourism still dominates, overcrowding and time pressures mean that the standard two-week beach holiday is becoming less popular. Rather than spending two weeks on a beach, Americans and Europeans are now taking shorter but more varied trips, causing the rapid development of adventure travel, ecotourism, cultural tours, spa holidays, cruses and sports vacations in ever more distant places: China, the Maldives, Botswana, Western travellers who have been there and done that choose more exotic, individualized experiences.

Questions:

1. Why did African countries promote tourism in the 1990s?

2. What did the African tourist resorts look like in the 1980s and 1990s?

3. What are the new trends in tourism nowadays?

4. What difficulties has global tourism had to overcome lately?

5. What two main changes in global tourism does the text predict?

6. Summarize the text.