Where Do All Those Damn Tourists Come From?

Worldmapper, out of the University of Sheffield, has signed the death warrant for the standard world map that hung in our world history classrooms. Instead, they give us maps where the countries expand or shrink like distended balloons based on variables like income, population, and more. Here you can compare the origins of tourists across the globe with the origins of refugees.

Tourist Origins

Tourists made 665 million trips in 2003. Most were residents of Western Europe, North America and Eastern Europe. From Central Africa, South Eastern Africa and Southern Asia - not so much. While residents of Antigua and Barbuda left their islands 3.66 times per year (lucky bastards!), residents of Angola traveled on average 0.0002 times per year.

Refugee Origins

In 2003 there were 15 million refugees and internally displaced persons internationally. The highest numbers came from (1) Serbia and Bosnia, (2) Iraq, Afghanistan and Azerbaijan.