The document discusses the global growth of tourism since 1950. Some key points: - Tourism is the world's largest industry, worth $500 billion in 2007. There were 900 million international tourist travelers that year. - The top destinations are France, Spain, Italy, USA, China and UK. Tourism is one of the top 5 sources of foreign exchange for 83% of countries. - Reasons for the increase include rising incomes, more leisure time, cheaper air travel, and greater infrastructure and advertising of destinations. Tourism has continued growing since the 1950s and has proven resilient to economic downturns.