Young travelers aged 16-24 are the travel industry’s fastest growing sector, new statistics from the World Youth Student & Educational Travel Confederation (WYSE) revealed.

This year U.S. tourist visitor numbers are expected to reach almost 44 million, up a solid 3.4 percent increase from 2006, yet it is an increase which is very considerably supported by higher passenger flows from the U.S.’s two largest origin countries: Canada and Mexico. These two account for over half of visitors.

The latest forecast from United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has projected that China is poised to surpass Spain as the world’s second most popular destination after France.

A new ACI forecast, which highlights future traffic development from the perspective of the airport industry, predicts a doubling of current passenger numbers within the next 20 years. Releasing the ACI Global Traffic Forecast 2006 – 2025 this week, ACI Director General Robert J Aaronson said that the forecast indicates that over nine billion passengers a year will use the world’s airports by 2025, up from 4.2 billion in 2005.

The Executive Director of Aruba Cruise Tourism (ACT), Mrs. Kathleen Rojer informed that the cruise tourism for Aruba during 2006 boomed with an impressive arrival of 591,474 cruise passengers with 314 calls.

In line with most expert predictions, World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) research suggests that global Travel & Tourism will continue to grow at a steady annual rate of 4.2 percent over the next ten years. Under the theme Breaking Barriers, Managing Growth, these issues will be addressed directly at the Global Travel & Tourism Summit, taking place in Lisbon, Portugal from May 10 to 12.