Institutional Investor magazine’s recently ran its 25th annual survey of its wealthy readers. The St. Regis Hotel in New York was ranked first among the world’s top hotels by Institutional Investor magazine. Survey respondents had average annual incomes of $817,000 and spent an average of 62 nights in a hotel last year, the magazine said.

Following the St. Regis in descending rank were: Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme; Mandarin Oriental, New York; Four Seasons Milan; Four Seasons Singapore; Four Seasons George V, Paris; Mandarin Oriental, San Francisco; Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore; Peninsula Hong Kong and Four Seasons, Chicago.

World Tourism

The World Tourism Organisation announced last month that the number of tourists around the globe should climb by 4 to 5 percent in 2006 and that tourism grew strongly in 2005 year despite natural disasters and attacks.

World tourism as measured by international arrivals, rose 5. 5 percent in 2005 to a record 808 million arrivals though the pace of growth had slowed sharply from the 10 percent rise in 2004. “Gradually slowing growth is expected to continue,” the World Tourism Organisation said in a statement and that growth was likely to stay above the long-term average of 4. 1 percent thanks to a more robust global economy and an improved outlook in Europe, particularly Germany, one of the biggest groups of global tourists.

The WTO said that terrorism, the effect high energy prices could have on the economy and bird flu could yet threaten tourism. “However, experience shows that (terrorism’s) impact lately has been rather limited and short-lived. Travellers overall have assumed the risk and have been undeterred by external threats. ”

So where is tourism growing the fastest? The answer appears to lie in Africa, up by 10 percent, led by Sub-Saharan countries such as Kenya with a 26 percent rise in arrivals in the first 10 months of the year and Mozambique with 37 percent more visitors in the first 9 months of the year.

Tourism to Asia and the Pacific grew 7 percent in 2005. Countries directly affected by the tsunami which washed away hotels and beachfronts in late 2004 suffered drops; the Maldives received 39 percent fewer tourists while visitor numbers to Indonesia fell 9 percent. And Sri Lanka reported a drop of just 0. 4 percent but that figure could have been skewed by the arrival of aid workers and Sri Lankan expatriates.

Whilst a string of hurricanes hit the southern United States last year clouded the outlook for the tourist market, optimism was starting to return and despite lengthy airport security procedures cause delays on arriving in the US, the number of visitors to the United States rose 8 percent last year.