This year’s top gathering of professional persons the World Travel Market in London pulled in more than 5,000 showers pondering what to do about declining tourism numbers.

From Jan ‘09 to Aug ‘09, around 7% fall has been witnessed in the tourism industry.

According to European Travel Operators Association (ETOA), Europe is most affected as it saw 8% fall and it is 11% down for central and eastern Europe.

While talking to reporters, ETOA Executive Director, Tom Jenkins said, “The economic crisis has hit tourism, there’s no doubt. A lot of sectors have suffered, particularly the in-bound sector in Europe. And we do rely heavily on North America and Japan to bring us a lot of visitors and it would be stupid to pretend it has not been difficult. But there are signs of life.”

The ray of hope is that big events during 2010, like the World Cup in South Africa and World Expo in Shanghai, will help boost the tourism segment.

The overall numbers of visitants may be low but they are still going to the similar places. United States, France and Spain remain the top destinations.