Recording an almost four per cent increase over the same period last year, the first nine months of 2016 witnessed 956 million international tourists travelling to different parts of the world, the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) said today.

The number of tourists travelling the world during the first eight months of this year reached 810 million, a more than 4 per cent increase from the same period in 2014, thanks to “robust” travel to Europe, according to the United Nations World Tourism Barometer.

With tourism accounting for 45 per cent of the foreign income of developing countries, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on the industry to play its full role in facing the three interdependent challenges of promoting sustained economic growth, ensuring social development and safeguarding the global environment.

Thanks to rapid urbanization and rising disposable incomes in their country, Chinese tourists spent $102 billion during their travels in 2012, more than any other nationality, making the Asian nation the world’s number one tourism source market, the United Nations said today.