"Roots tourism", spurred on by US President Barack Obama's visit to his ancestral home in Kenya last year, was among the emerging trends seen in the global tourism industry during 2009.
The annual Global Trends Report (GTR) for tourism also showed that operators were forced to cut prices of premium products - such as concierge services - as consumers traded down amid recessionary pressures.
The report, compiled by Euromonitor International, divides the global tourism industry into seven regions and charts the dominant trends in each.
In Africa, the Obama effect has seen large numbers of African Americans - as well as people from other black minority communities around the world - wanting to travel to the lands of their ancestors in Africa.
The increasing popularity of undertaking DNA testing to identify ancestral origin has in part resulted in a 3 per cent increase in arrivals to the continent - an impressive return, considering that total global arrivals are set to finish the year 8 per cent below last year's levels.
In the Middle East, the dominant trend has been the emergence of women-only accommodation providers.
The first women-only hotel, Luthan Hotel & Spa, opened in Saudi Arabia in 2007 and the sector has since experienced a boom with further female-only hotels opening across the region.
In Asia, the prominent trend continues to be the rapid growth of golf tourism and the stream of new courses being built.
According to the report, golf and related property development are enjoying government support especially in South East Asia, where administrations see golf as a way of attracting affluent tourists.
Other trends identified in the report include "funemployment" in North America, the emerging of luxury travel in Latin America and the increase in prefabricated, temporary "pop-up" hotels in the UK.
Caroline Bremner, spokesperson for Euromonitor International, said: "This past year has shown us how quickly things change as the world still reels from the global financial crisis that brought the travel industry to its knees.
"In North America the recession has created a new consumer group, the "funemployed", who are cash poor, time rich and seek to make the most of rock bottom prices."
