China to overtake France as top travel destination by 2030

LONDON (AP) — A leading travel research firm is predicting there will be 1.4 billion trips made in 2018, up 5 percent from last year.

Euromonitor International said Tuesday that stronger than anticipated growth in many major economies will mean that receipts in the tourism industry will rise by an even stronger 11 percent.

Much of the continued boom in travel is centered in the Asia Pacific region, where trips are expected to grow by 10 percent this year. Countries like Egypt, Tunisia and Turkey, which have seen sharp falls in tourist numbers over the past few years largely linked to security concerns, are also recovering.

Euromonitor is also predicting 2.4 billion international trips by 2030, by which time China will have overtaken France to be the world's number one destination.