World Travelers Shun Protectionism

People move easier than products

BARCELONA, SPAIN - JULY 11: Tourists visit Gaudi's Park Guell on July 11, 2014 in Barcelona, Spain. As traders of 'La Boqueria' complain about tour groups getting in the way of their real customers, Barcelona's authorities are debating how to control the number of tourists in the city as an estimated 10 million people are due to visit this year. Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina—Trade doesn’t just consist of shipping containers from China to the United States. There is trade in services, too, and tourism is an important part of it. According to a report by the World Economic Forum (WEF), growth in global tourism continues unabated, despite rising nationalism.

“In a world where we hear more talk about walls and borders, we see the opposite in tourism,” said Peter Vanham, a spokesperson for the WEF, at the presentation of the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2017 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on April 6. 

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