While just a couple of years ago the big news was an influx of tourists and businesses visiting India, market observers may have overlooked the fact that akin to the rising numbers of Chinese tourist travelling overseas, greater numbers of Indian travellers also heading abroad to holiday. Such is the size of India’s population that as tourists overseas they have the potential to positively impact the fortunes of a host of global tourist destinations.

The Post Office Cost of Culture Survey 2008 and Mercer’s Annual Cost of Living Survey highlight the cheapest european cities and potential property investment hotspots.

Residing in the southernmost part of Portugal, the Algarve is blessed with steady sunshine, luscious landscapes, beautiful beaches and first-class golfing facilities.

While European media dishes up daily doses of recession and global credit crunch, on the other side of the world things could hardly be more different.

The World Tourism Organization recently conducted a study which projected that China would become the one of the largest markets for tourism within the next seven years. The total revenue from tourism in China last year was well over $150 billion.