International tourism

The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".

International tourism has significant impacts on the environment, exacerbated in part by the problems created by air travel but also by other issues, including wealthy tourists bringing lifestyles that stress local infrastructure, water and trash systems among others.

[17] A number of college students tested positive for COVID-19 after returning from traditional spring break destinations such as the Florida beaches, South Padre Island, and Cabo San Lucas.

A possible long-term impact has been a decline of business travel and international conferencing, and the rise of their virtual, online equivalents.

Most vacation travel was done by car, as gas prices are low and many people prefer to wait to the last minute to plan trips due to uncertainties.

[36] The Australian Tourism Industry Council (ATIC) called on the Government of Australia for financial support especially in light of the large number of small businesses affected.

[38] It also suffered a 75% decline in share price,[39] and announced that 6,000 staff would be made redundant or placed on unpaid leave globally.

[41] In 2011 and 2012, international travel demand continued to recover from the losses resulting from the late-2000s recession, where tourism suffered a strong slowdown from the second half of 2008 through the end of 2009.

[44] The World Tourism Organization reports the following ten destinations as the most visited in terms of the number of international travelers in 2019.