My chosen topic is Tourism.
The first graph presented is a graph of International Tourist Arrivals by World Region from 1950 to 2018. The graph shows that most travel occurred in Europe, then Americas, Asia and Pacific, the Middle East, and the region with the smallest amount of tourists was Africa. It’s interesting to note that tourist data in a way connects to the wellbeing of visited regions. Poor regions likely do not attract many tourists, whereas regions with more health, freedoms, and likely a higher happiness index seem more attractive to tourists. I’m surprised that the Americas had 3 times less tourists than Europe; however, that’s likely to the high costs associated with transatlantic travel.
The second graph shows the number of fatal accidents per million flights. The graph has a strong negative slope with the number of fatal aviation’s accidents decreasing as time progressed. In 1970, there were 6 accidents per million flights which overtime decreased to 0.27 accidents per million in 2017. Such a significant improvement was likely caused by innovation and technology. Rob Kitchins explains the importance of new technology in his article on big data. New advances in technology allow for easier scientific discoveries and computer-automated correlation findings, whereas in the case of aviation, technology allows for better safety of flights. A lot of people are afraid to fly on planes; however, this graph further shows the insignificant risks of going on a commercial flight, as compared to driving, for example.
The third graph shows the global number of fatalities from aviation accidents. The curve for commercial airlines fatalities has a rough bell shape with some high outliers. One of those years is 1972 where the total number of casualties was 2268. The Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 was one of the fatal crashes that year and became known as both the “Andes Flight Disaster” and the “Miracle of the Andes”. This double standard is similar to a factor of urbanism. People want to move to big cities with the best technology, more opportunities, and better jobs, but have to realize that cities are a major hub of crime and disease.