According to the UN World Tourism Organisation report that has just been published, worldwide tourist arrivals will fall this year for the first time since 2003, and Europe will take the biggest hit.
The global economic crisis should see the number of tourists drop by two per cent this year, the UNWTO said in its World Tourism Barometer, adding that the outlook was very uncertain in line with a hard-to-read economic picture.
"Europe will be the most affected region... since the majority of the countries from which tourists originate are already in, or are now entering, recession," the Madrid-based organisation said. The Asia-Pacific region should still register growth, albeit down on previous years, as will Africa and the Middle East, the UNWTO said.
Last year a six per cent growth in demand in the first six months flipped to a one per cent fall in visitor numbers globally in the second half as the financial crisis seeped into the broader economy, the organisation's figures show.
Malta followed a similar trend, with figures spiralling downward in the last four months, although tourism for the whole year increased by 3.8 per cent to set a new record for the island.
With the economy in Britain in reverse and interest rates at their lowest in history, last year was the weakest one for the pound since 1971 - ominously for the island and other European destinations. In Spain, one million Britons abandoned Spain's bars and beaches last year after the pound dived against the euro and the financial crisis took hold, according to Spain's main tourism trade body.
In other parts, analysts and people in the tourism industry fear that a slowdown in tourism caused by economic recession in Europe and elsewhere might derail Morocco's ambitious plan to develop its tourism industry. Tourism Minister Mohamed Boussaid was quoted as saying that tourism revenue would be almost the same last year as it was the previous year when earnings stood at €5.5 billion, 12 per cent more than in 2006.
The Seychelles economy is predicted to shrink by at least 0.5 per cent, compared to 3.1 per cent growth last year, because tourism revenues are expected to fall by 10 per cent over the next year. A deepening sense of uncertainty prevails across the visitor-dependent archipelago.
Hong Kong, now one of Asia's top tourist hubs with 29.5 million visitors last year, is predicting visitor arrivals to dip 1.6 per cent this year, though a steeper drop of 9.2 per cent is forecast for non-Chinese visitors.
Singapore's tourist arrivals, meanwhile, fell two per cent last year with more gloom expected, while Thailand and Malaysia both expect nine per cent drops in visitors this year.
Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism Mario de Marco said on Tuesday that Malta will this year be promoting itself as a value-for-money destination, as price will again be a major determining factor in people's choice of holiday destinations.
Other countries too, particularly those whose tourism is a major player in their economic growth, are on guard while taking measures to counter the repercussions.
Egypt, for example, will exempt hotels from paying contributions to the country's tourism promotion authority and will cut fees paid by charter flights to help its tourism industry cope with the global financial crisis.
To the north, this year will certainly be stressful for Croatia's tourism, according to Peter Fuchs, chief executive officer of Valamar which runs hotels, apartment complexes and camping sites in Adriatic locations.
"However, we have invested a lot in improving our facilities and services and that should pay off," he said.