global tourism demand

Travel, Tourism & Hospitality

Global tourism industry - statistics & facts

What are the leading global tourism destinations, digitalization of the global tourism industry, how important is sustainable tourism, key insights.

Detailed statistics

Total contribution of travel and tourism to GDP worldwide 2019-2033

Number of international tourist arrivals worldwide 1950-2023

Global leisure travel spend 2019-2022

Editor’s Picks Current statistics on this topic

Leading global travel markets by travel and tourism contribution to GDP 2019-2022

Travel and tourism employment worldwide 2019-2033

Further recommended statistics

• Basic Statistic Total contribution of travel and tourism to GDP worldwide 2019-2033
• Basic Statistic Travel and tourism: share of global GDP 2019-2033
• Basic Statistic Leading global travel markets by travel and tourism contribution to GDP 2019-2022
• Basic Statistic Global leisure travel spend 2019-2022
• Premium Statistic Global business travel spending 2001-2022
• Premium Statistic Number of international tourist arrivals worldwide 1950-2023
• Basic Statistic Number of international tourist arrivals worldwide 2005-2023, by region
• Basic Statistic Travel and tourism employment worldwide 2019-2033

Total contribution of travel and tourism to gross domestic product (GDP) worldwide in 2019 and 2022, with a forecast for 2023 and 2033 (in trillion U.S. dollars)

Travel and tourism: share of global GDP 2019-2033

Share of travel and tourism's total contribution to GDP worldwide in 2019 and 2022, with a forecast for 2023 and 2033

Total contribution of travel and tourism to GDP in leading travel markets worldwide in 2019 and 2022 (in billion U.S. dollars)

Leisure tourism spending worldwide from 2019 to 2022 (in billion U.S. dollars)

Global business travel spending 2001-2022

Expenditure of business tourists worldwide from 2001 to 2022 (in billion U.S. dollars)

Number of international tourist arrivals worldwide from 1950 to 2023 (in millions)

Number of international tourist arrivals worldwide 2005-2023, by region

Number of international tourist arrivals worldwide from 2005 to 2023, by region (in millions)

Number of travel and tourism jobs worldwide from 2019 to 2022, with a forecast for 2023 and 2033 (in millions)

• Premium Statistic Global hotel and resort industry market size worldwide 2013-2023
• Premium Statistic Most valuable hotel brands worldwide 2023, by brand value
• Basic Statistic Leading hotel companies worldwide 2023, by number of properties
• Premium Statistic Hotel openings worldwide 2021-2024
• Premium Statistic Hotel room openings worldwide 2021-2024
• Premium Statistic Countries with the most hotel construction projects in the pipeline worldwide 2022

Global hotel and resort industry market size worldwide 2013-2023

Market size of the hotel and resort industry worldwide from 2013 to 2022, with a forecast for 2023 (in trillion U.S. dollars)

Most valuable hotel brands worldwide 2023, by brand value

Leading hotel brands based on brand value worldwide in 2023 (in billion U.S. dollars)

Leading hotel companies worldwide 2023, by number of properties

Leading hotel companies worldwide as of June 2023, by number of properties

Hotel openings worldwide 2021-2024

Number of hotels opened worldwide from 2021 to 2022, with a forecast for 2023 and 2024

Hotel room openings worldwide 2021-2024

Number of hotel rooms opened worldwide from 2021 to 2022, with a forecast for 2023 and 2024

Countries with the most hotel construction projects in the pipeline worldwide 2022

Countries with the highest number of hotel construction projects in the pipeline worldwide as of Q4 2022

• Premium Statistic Airports with the most international air passenger traffic worldwide 2022
• Premium Statistic Market value of selected airlines worldwide 2023
• Premium Statistic Global passenger rail users forecast 2017-2027
• Premium Statistic Daily ridership of bus rapid transit systems worldwide by region 2023
• Premium Statistic Number of users of car rentals worldwide 2019-2028
• Premium Statistic Number of users in selected countries in the Car Rentals market in 2023
• Premium Statistic Carbon footprint of international tourism transport worldwide 2005-2030, by type

Airports with the most international air passenger traffic worldwide 2022

Leading airports for international air passenger traffic in 2022 (in million international passengers)

Market value of selected airlines worldwide 2023

Market value of selected airlines worldwide as of May 2023 (in billion U.S. dollars)

Global passenger rail users forecast 2017-2027

Worldwide number of passenger rail users from 2017 to 2022, with a forecast through 2027 (in billion users)

Daily ridership of bus rapid transit systems worldwide by region 2023

Number of daily passengers using bus rapid transit (BRT) systems as of April 2023, by region

Number of users of car rentals worldwide 2019-2028

Number of users of car rentals worldwide from 2019 to 2028 (in millions)

Number of users in selected countries in the Car Rentals market in 2023

Number of users in selected countries in the Car Rentals market in 2023 (in million)

Carbon footprint of international tourism transport worldwide 2005-2030, by type

Transport-related emissions from international tourist arrivals worldwide in 2005 and 2016, with a forecast for 2030, by mode of transport (in million metric tons of carbon dioxide)

Attractions

• Premium Statistic Leading museums by highest attendance worldwide 2019-2022
• Basic Statistic Most visited amusement and theme parks worldwide 2019-2022
• Basic Statistic Monuments on the UNESCO world heritage list 2023, by type
• Basic Statistic Selected countries with the most Michelin-starred restaurants worldwide 2023

Leading museums by highest attendance worldwide 2019-2022

Most visited museums worldwide from 2019 to 2022 (in millions)

Most visited amusement and theme parks worldwide 2019-2022

Leading amusement and theme parks worldwide from 2019 to 2022, by attendance (in millions)

Monuments on the UNESCO world heritage list 2023, by type

Number of monuments on the UNESCO world heritage list as of September 2023, by type

Selected countries with the most Michelin-starred restaurants worldwide 2023

Number of Michelin-starred restaurants in selected countries and territories worldwide as of July 2023

Online travel market

• Premium Statistic Online travel market size worldwide 2017-2028
• Premium Statistic Estimated desktop vs. mobile revenue of leading OTAs worldwide 2023
• Premium Statistic Number of aggregated downloads of leading online travel agency apps worldwide 2023
• Basic Statistic Market cap of leading online travel companies worldwide 2023
• Premium Statistic Estimated EV/Revenue ratio in the online travel market 2024, by segment
• Premium Statistic Estimated EV/EBITDA ratio in the online travel market 2024, by segment

Online travel market size worldwide 2017-2028

Online travel market size worldwide from 2017 to 2023, with a forecast until 2028 (in billion U.S. dollars)

Estimated desktop vs. mobile revenue of leading OTAs worldwide 2023

Estimated desktop vs. mobile revenue of leading online travel agencies (OTAs) worldwide in 2023 (in billion U.S. dollars)

Number of aggregated downloads of leading online travel agency apps worldwide 2023

Number of aggregated downloads of selected leading online travel agency apps worldwide in 2023 (in millions)

Market cap of leading online travel companies worldwide 2023

Market cap of leading online travel companies worldwide as of September 2023 (in million U.S. dollars)

Estimated EV/Revenue ratio in the online travel market 2024, by segment

Estimated enterprise value to revenue (EV/Revenue) ratio in the online travel market worldwide as of April 2024, by segment

Estimated EV/EBITDA ratio in the online travel market 2024, by segment

Estimated enterprise value to EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio in the online travel market worldwide as of April 2024, by segment

Selected trends

• Premium Statistic Global travelers who believe in the importance of green travel 2023
• Premium Statistic Sustainable initiatives travelers would adopt worldwide 2022, by region
• Premium Statistic Airbnb revenue worldwide 2017-2023
• Premium Statistic Airbnb nights and experiences booked worldwide 2017-2023
• Premium Statistic Technologies global hotels plan to implement in the next three years 2022
• Premium Statistic Hotel technologies global consumers think would improve their future stay 2022

Global travelers who believe in the importance of green travel 2023

Share of travelers that believe sustainable travel is important worldwide in 2023

Sustainable initiatives travelers would adopt worldwide 2022, by region

Main sustainable initiatives travelers are willing to adopt worldwide in 2022, by region

Airbnb revenue worldwide 2017-2023

Revenue of Airbnb worldwide from 2017 to 2023 (in billion U.S. dollars)

Airbnb nights and experiences booked worldwide 2017-2023

Nights and experiences booked with Airbnb from 2017 to 2023 (in millions)

Technologies global hotels plan to implement in the next three years 2022

Technologies hotels are most likely to implement in the next three years worldwide as of 2022

Hotel technologies global consumers think would improve their future stay 2022

Must-have hotel technologies to create a more amazing stay in the future among travelers worldwide as of 2022

• Premium Statistic Travel and tourism revenue worldwide 2019-2028, by segment
• Premium Statistic Distribution of sales channels in the travel and tourism market worldwide 2018-2028
• Premium Statistic Inbound tourism visitor growth worldwide 2020-2025, by region
• Premium Statistic Outbound tourism visitor growth worldwide 2020-2025, by region

Travel and tourism revenue worldwide 2019-2028, by segment

Revenue of the global travel and tourism market from 2019 to 2028, by segment (in billion U.S. dollars)

Distribution of sales channels in the travel and tourism market worldwide 2018-2028

Revenue share of sales channels of the travel and tourism market worldwide from 2018 to 2028

Inbound tourism visitor growth worldwide 2020-2025, by region

Inbound tourism visitor growth worldwide from 2020 to 2022, with a forecast until 2025, by region

Outbound tourism visitor growth worldwide 2020-2025, by region

Outbound tourism visitor growth worldwide from 2020 to 2022, with a forecast until 2025, by region

Further reports

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• Regional Support Office for Asia and the Pacific (RSOAP)
• Member States in Asia and the Pacific
• SUSTAINABLE TOURISM OBSERVATORIES (INSTO)

According to the first UNWTO World Tourism Barometer of the year,  international tourism ended 2023 at 88% of pre-pandemic levels , with an estimated 1.3 billion international arrivals .  The unleashing of remaining pent-up demand, increased air connectivity, and a stronger recovery of Asian markets and destinations, are expected to underpin a full recovery by the end of 2024 (UNWTO Tourism Barometer January 2024 – Press Release) .

An estimated 1286 million international tourists (overnight visitors) were recorded around the world in 2023, an increase of 34% over 2022. International tourism recovered 88% of pre-pandemic levels, supported by strong pent-up demand (UNWTO Tourism Barometer January 2024-Excerpt) .

International tourism is expected to fully recover pre-pandemic levels in 2024, with initial estimates pointing to 2% growth above 2019 levels. This central forecast by UNWTO remains subject to the pace of recovery in Asia and to the evolution of existing economic and geopolitical downside risks (UNWTO Tourism Barometer January 2024 – Press Release) .  

Asia and the Pacific reached 65% of pre-pandemic levels, with a gradual recovery since the start of 2023 following the reopening of several markets and destinations. However, performance among subregions were mixed, with South Asia recovering 87% of pre-pandemic levels and North-East Asia, 55% (UNWTO Tourism Barometer January 2024-Excerpt) .

There is still significant room for recovery across Asia. The recent reopening of several source markets and destinations is expected to boost recovery in the region and globally (UNWTO Tourism Barometer January 2024- Excerpt) .

Read more on the UNWTO Tourism Barometer (January 2024 excerpt) here .

About the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer

The UNWTO World Tourism Barometer is a publication of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) that monitors short-term tourism trends regularly to provide global tourism stakeholders with up-to-date analysis of international tourism. The information is updated several times a year and includes an analysis of the latest data on tourism destinations (inbound tourism) and source markets (outbound tourism). The Barometer also includes three times a year Confidence Index based on the UNWTO Panel of Tourism Experts survey, which provides an evaluation of recent performance and short-term prospects for international tourism.

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© UNWTO Regional Support Office for Asia and the Pacific (RSOAP)

By: Bastian Herre , Veronika Samborska and Max Roser

Tourism has massively increased in recent decades. Aviation has opened up travel from domestic to international. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of international visits had more than doubled since 2000.

Tourism can be important for both the travelers and the people in the countries they visit.

For visitors, traveling can increase their understanding of and appreciation for people in other countries and their cultures.

And in many countries, many people rely on tourism for their income. In some, it is one of the largest industries.

But tourism also has externalities: it contributes to global carbon emissions and can encroach on local environments and cultures.

On this page, you can find data and visualizations on the history and current state of tourism across the world.

Interactive Charts on Tourism

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• Understanding Poverty
• Competitiveness

Tourism and Competitiveness

• Publications

The tourism sector provides opportunities for developing countries to create productive and inclusive jobs, grow innovative firms, finance the conservation of natural and cultural assets, and increase economic empowerment, especially for women, who comprise the majority of the tourism sector’s workforce. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, tourism was the world’s largest service sector—providing one in ten jobs worldwide,  almost seven percent of all international trade and  25 percent of the world’s service exports —a critical foreign exchange generator.  In 2019 the sector was valued at more than US$9 trillion and accounted for 10.4 percent of global GDP.

Tourism offers opportunities for economic diversification and market-creation. When effectively managed, its deep local value chains can expand demand for existing and new products and services that directly and positively impact the poor and rural/isolated communities. The sector can also be a force for biodiversity conservation, heritage protection, and climate-friendly livelihoods, making up a key pillar of the blue/green economy. This potential is also associated with social and environmental risks, which need to be managed and mitigated to maximize the sector’s net-positive benefits.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been devastating for tourism service providers, with a loss of 20 percent of all tourism jobs (62 million), and US$1.3 trillion in export revenue, leading to a reduction of 50 percent of its  contribution to GDP  in 2020 alone. The collapse of demand has severely impacted the livelihoods of tourism-dependent communities, small businesses and women-run enterprises. It has also reduced government tax revenues and constrained the availability of resources for destination management and site conservation.

Naturalist local guide with group of tourist in Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve Ecuador. Photo: Ammit Jack/Shutterstock

Tourism and Competitiveness Strategic Pillars

Our solutions are integrated across the following areas:

• Competitive and Productive Tourism Markets. We work with government and private sector stakeholders to foster competitive tourism markets that create productive jobs, improve visitor expenditure and impact, and are supportive of high-growth, innovative firms. To do so we offer guidance on firm and destination level recovery, policy and regulatory reforms, demand diversification, investment promotion and market access. 
• Blue, Green and Resilient Tourism Economies. We support economic diversification to sustain natural capital and tourism assets, prepare for external and climate-related shocks, and be sustainably managed through strong policy, coordination, and governance improvements. To do so we offer support to align the tourism enabling and policy environment towards sustainability, while improving tourism destination and site planning, development, and management. We work with governments to enhance the sector’s resilience and to foster the development of innovative sustainable financing instruments.
• Inclusive Value Chains. We work with client governments and intermediaries to support Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs), and strengthen value chains that provide equitable livelihoods for communities, women, youth, minorities, and local businesses. 

The successful design and implementation of reforms in the tourism space requires the combined effort of diverse line ministries and agencies, and an understanding of the impact of digital technologies in the industry. Accordingly, our teams support cross-cutting issues of tourism governance and coordination, digital innovation and the use and application of data throughout the three focus areas of work.

Tourism and Competitiveness Theory of Change 

Examples of our projects:

• In Indonesia , a US$955m loan is supporting the Government’s Integrated Infrastructure Development for National Tourism Strategic Areas Project. This project is designed to improve the quality of, and access to, tourism-relevant basic infrastructure and services, strengthen local economy linkages to tourism, and attract private investment in selected tourism destinations. In its initial phases, the project has supported detailed market and demand analyses needed to justify significant public investment, mobilized integrated tourism destination masterplans for each new destination and established essential coordination mechanisms at the national level and at all seventeen of the Project’s participating districts and cities.
• In Madagascar , a series of projects totaling US$450m in lending and IFC Technical Assistance have contributed to the sustainable growth of the tourism sector by enhancing access to enabling infrastructure and services in target regions. Activities under the project focused on providing support to SMEs, capacity building to institutions, and promoting investment and enabling environment reforms. They resulted in the creation of more than 10,000 jobs and the registration of more than 30,000 businesses. As a result of COVID-19, the project provided emergency support both to government institutions (i.e., Ministry of Tourism) and other organizations such as the National Tourism Promotion Board to plan, strategize and implement initiatives to address effects of the pandemic and support the sector’s gradual relaunch, as well as to directly support tourism companies and workers groups most affected by the crisis. 
• In Sierra Leone , an Economic Diversification Project has a strong focus on sustainable tourism development.  The project is contributing significantly to the COVID-19 recovery, with its focus on the creation of six new tourism destinations, attracting new private investment, and building the capacity of government ministries to successfully manage and market their tourism assets.  This project aims to contribute to the development of more circular economy tourism business models, and support the growth of women- run tourism businesses.  
• Through the Rebuilding Tourism Competitiveness: Tourism Response, Recovery and Resilience to the COVID-19 Crisis initiative and the Tourism for Development Learning Series , we held webinars, published insights and guidance notes as well as formed new partnerships with Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, United Nations Environment Program, United Nations World Tourism Organization, and World Travel and Tourism Council to exchange knowledge on managing tourism throughout the pandemic, planning for recovery and building back better. The initiative’s key Policy Note has been downloaded more than 20,000 times and has been used to inform recovery initiatives in over 30 countries across 6 regions.
• The Global Aviation Dashboard  is a platform that visualizes real-time changes in global flight movements, allowing users to generate 2D & 3D visualizations, charts, graphs, and tables; and ranking animations for: flight volume, seat volume, and available seat kilometers.  Data is available for domestic, intra-regional, and inter-regional routes across all regions, countries, airports, and airlines on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis from January 2020 until today. The dashboard has been used to track the status and recovery of global travel and inform policy and operational actions.

Traditional Samburu women in Kenya. Photo: hecke61/Shutterstock.

Featured Data

We-Fi WeTour Women in Tourism Enterprise Surveys (2019)

• Sierra Leone  |  Ghana

Featured Reports 

• Destination Management Handbook: A Guide to the Planning and Implementation of Destination Management  (2023)
• Blue Tourism in Islands and Small Tourism-Dependent Coastal States : Tools and Recovery Strategies (2022)
• Resilient Tourism: Competitiveness in the Face of Disasters  (2020)
• Tourism and the Sharing Economy: Policy and Potential of Sustainable Peer-to-Peer Accommodation  (2018)
• Supporting Sustainable Livelihoods through Wildlife Tourism  (2018)
• The Voice of Travelers: Leveraging User-Generated Content for Tourism Development  (2018)
• Women and Tourism: Designing for Inclusion  (2017)
• Twenty Reasons Sustainable Tourism Counts for Development  (2017)
• An introduction to tourism concessioning:14 characteristics of successful programs.  The World Bank, 2016)
• Getting financed: 9 tips for community joint ventures in tourism . World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and World Bank, (2015)
• Global investment promotion best practices: Winning tourism investment” Investment Climate  (2013)

Country-Specific

• COVID-19 and Tourism in South Asia: Opportunities for Sustainable Regional Outcomes  (2020)
• Demand Analysis for Tourism in African Local Communities  (2018)
• Tourism in Africa: Harnessing Tourism for Growth and Improved Livelihoods . Africa Development Forum (2014)

COVID-19 Response

• Expecting the Unexpected : Tools and Policy Considerations to Support the Recovery and Resilience of the Tourism Sector (2022)
• Rebuilding Tourism Competitiveness. Tourism response, recovery and resilience to the COVID-19 crisis  (2020)
• COVID-19 and Tourism in South Asia Opportunities for Sustainable Regional Outcomes  (2020)  
• WBG support for tourism clients and destinations during the COVID-19 crisis  (2020)
• Tourism for Development: Tourism Diagnostic Toolkit  (2019)
• Tourism Theory of Change  (2018)

Country   -Specific

• COVID Impact Mitigation Survey Results  (South Africa) (2020)
• COVID Preparedness for Reopening Survey Results  (South Africa) (2020)
• COVID Study  (Fiji) (2020) with   IFC

Featured Blogs

• Louise Twining-Ward and Alba Suris , Bridging the Tourism Data Divide: New Tools for Policymaking
• Fiona Stewart, Samantha Power & Shaun Mann ,  Harnessing the power of capital markets to conserve and restore global biodiversity through “Natural Asset Companies”   | October 12 th  2021
• Mari Elka Pangestu ,  Tourism in the post-COVID world: Three steps to build better forward  | April 30 th  2021
• Hartwig Schafer ,  Regional collaboration can help South Asian nations rebuild and strengthen tourism industry  | July 23 rd  2020
• Caroline Freund ,  We can’t travel, but we can take measures to preserve jobs in the tourism industry  | March 20 th  2020

Featured Webinars

• Destination Management for Resilient Growth . This webinar looks at emerging destinations at the local level to examine the opportunities, examples, and best tools available. Destination Management Handbook
• Launch of the Future of Pacific Tourism. This webinar goes through the results of the new Future of Pacific Tourism report. It was launched by FCI Regional and Global Managers with Discussants from the Asian Development Bank and Intrepid Group.
• Circular Economy and Tourism . This webinar discusses how new and circular business models are needed to change the way tourism operates and enable businesses and destinations to be sustainable.
• Closing the Gap: Gender in Projects and Analytics .  The purpose of this webinar is to raise awareness on integrating gender considerations into projects and provide guidelines for future project design in various sectoral areas.
• WTO Tourism Resilience: Building forward Better. High-level panelists from Sri Lanka, Costa Rica, Jordan and Kenya discuss how donors, governments and the private sector can work together most effectively to rebuild the tourism industry and improve its resilience for the future.
• Tourism Watch
• Tourism Factsheets
• [email protected]

Launch of Blue Tourism Resource Portal

Reimagining the $9 trillion tourism economy—what will it take?

Tourism made up 10 percent of global GDP in 2019 and was worth almost $9 trillion, 1 See “Economic impact reports,” World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), wttc.org. making the sector nearly three times larger than agriculture. However, the tourism value chain of suppliers and intermediaries has always been fragmented, with limited coordination among the small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) that make up a large portion of the sector. Governments have generally played a limited role in the industry, with partial oversight and light-touch management.

COVID-19 has caused an unprecedented crisis for the tourism industry. International tourist arrivals are projected to plunge by 60 to 80 percent in 2020, and tourism spending is not likely to return to precrisis levels until 2024. This puts as many as 120 million jobs at risk. 2 “International tourist numbers could fall 60-80% in 2020, UNWTO reports,” World Tourism Organization, May 7, 2020, unwto.org.

Reopening tourism-related businesses and managing their recovery in a way that is safe, attractive for tourists, and economically viable will require coordination at a level not seen before. The public sector may be best placed to oversee this process in the context of the fragmented SME ecosystem, large state-owned enterprises controlling entry points, and the increasing impact of health-related agencies. As borders start reopening and interest in leisure rebounds in some regions , governments could take the opportunity to rethink their role within tourism, thereby potentially both assisting in the sector’s recovery and strengthening it in the long term.

In this article, we suggest four ways in which governments can reimagine their role in the tourism sector in the context of COVID-19.

1. Streamlining public–private interfaces through a tourism nerve center

Before COVID-19, most tourism ministries and authorities focused on destination marketing, industry promotions, and research. Many are now dealing with a raft of new regulations, stimulus programs, and protocols. They are also dealing with uncertainty around demand forecasting, and the decisions they make around which assets—such as airports—to reopen will have a major impact on the safety of tourists and sector employees.

Coordination between the public and private sectors in tourism was already complex prior to COVID-19. In the United Kingdom, for example, tourism falls within the remit of two departments—the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS)—which interact with other government agencies and the private sector at several points. Complex coordination structures often make clarity and consistency difficult. These issues are exacerbated by the degree of coordination that will be required by the tourism sector in the aftermath of the crisis, both across government agencies (for example, between the ministries responsible for transport, tourism, and health), and between the government and private-sector players (such as for implementing protocols, syncing financial aid, and reopening assets).

Concentrating crucial leadership into a central nerve center  is a crisis management response many organizations have deployed in similar situations. Tourism nerve centers, which bring together public, private, and semi-private players into project teams to address five themes, could provide an active collaboration framework that is particularly suited to the diverse stakeholders within the tourism sector (Exhibit 1).

We analyzed stimulus packages across 24 economies, 3 Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, and the United Kingdom. which totaled nearly $100 billion in funds dedicated directly to the tourism sector, and close to $300 billion including cross-sector packages with a heavy tourism footprint. This stimulus was generally provided by multiple entities and government departments, and few countries had a single integrated view on beneficiaries and losers. We conducted surveys on how effective the public-sector response has been and found that two-thirds of tourism players were either unaware of the measures taken by government or felt they did not have sufficient impact. Given uncertainty about the timing and speed of the tourism recovery, obtaining quick feedback and redeploying funds will be critical to ensuring that stimulus packages have maximum impact.

2. Experimenting with new financing mechanisms

Most of the $100 billion stimulus that we analyzed was structured as grants, debt relief, and aid to SMEs and airlines. New Zealand has offered an NZ $15,000 (US $10,000) grant per SME to cover wages, for example, while Singapore has instituted an 8 percent cash grant on the gross monthly wages of local employees. Japan has waived the debt of small companies where income dropped more than 20 percent. In Germany, companies can use state-sponsored work-sharing schemes for up to six months, and the government provides an income replacement rate of 60 percent.

Our forecasts indicate that it will take four to seven years for tourism demand to return to 2019 levels, which means that overcapacity will be the new normal in the medium term. This prolonged period of low demand means that the way tourism is financed needs to change. The aforementioned types of policies are expensive and will be difficult for governments to sustain over multiple years. They also might not go far enough. A recent Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) survey of SMEs in the tourism sector suggested more than half would not survive the next few months, and the failure of businesses on anything like this scale would put the recovery far behind even the most conservative forecasts. 4 See Tourism policy responses to the coronavirus (COVID-19), OECD, June 2020, oecd.org. Governments and the private sector should be investigating new, innovative financing measures.

Revenue-pooling structures for hotels

One option would be the creation of revenue-pooling structures, which could help asset owners and operators, especially SMEs, to manage variable costs and losses moving forward. Hotels competing for the same segment in the same district, such as a beach strip, could have an incentive to pool revenues and losses while operating at reduced capacity. Instead of having all hotels operating at 20 to 40 percent occupancy, a subset of hotels could operate at a higher occupancy rate and share the revenue with the remainder. This would allow hotels to optimize variable costs and reduce the need for government stimulus. Non-operating hotels could channel stimulus funds into refurbishments or other investment, which would boost the destination’s attractiveness. Governments will need to be the intermediary between businesses through auditing or escrow accounts in this model.

Joint equity funds for small and medium-size enterprises

Government-backed equity funds could also be used to deploy private capital to help ensure that tourism-related SMEs survive the crisis (Exhibit 2). This principle underpins the European Commission’s temporary framework for recapitalization of state-aided enterprises, which provided an estimated €1.9 trillion in aid to the EU economy between March and May 2020. 5 See “State aid: Commission expands temporary framework to recapitalisation and subordinated debt measures to further support the economy in the context of the coronavirus outbreak,” European Commission, May 8, 2020, ec.europa.eu. Applying such a mechanism to SMEs would require creating an appropriate equity-holding structure, or securitizing equity stakes in multiple SMEs at once, reducing the overall risk profile for the investor. In addition, developing a standardized valuation methodology would avoid lengthy due diligence processes on each asset. Governments that do not have the resources to co-invest could limit their role to setting up those structures and opening them to potential private investors.

3. Ensuring transparent, consistent communication on protocols

The return of tourism demand requires that travelers and tourism-sector employees feel—and are—safe. Although international organizations such as the International Air Transport Association (IATA), and the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) have developed a set of guidelines to serve as a baseline, local regulators are layering additional measures on top. This leads to low levels of harmonization regarding regulations imposed by local governments.

Our surveys of traveler confidence in the United States  suggests anxiety remains high, and authorities and destination managers must work to ensure travelers know about, and feel reassured by, protocols put in place for their protection. Our latest survey of traveler sentiment in China  suggests a significant gap between how confident travelers would like to feel and how confident they actually feel; actual confidence in safety is much lower than the expected level asked a month before.

One reason for this low level of confidence is confusion over the safety measures that are currently in place. Communication is therefore key to bolstering demand. Experience in Europe indicates that prompt, transparent, consistent communications from public agencies have had a similar impact on traveler demand as CEO announcements have on stock prices. Clear, credible announcements regarding the removal of travel restrictions have already led to increased air-travel searches and bookings. In the week that governments announced the removal of travel bans to a number of European summer destinations, for example, outbound air travel web search volumes recently exceeded precrisis levels by more than 20 percent in some countries.

The case of Greece helps illustrate the importance of clear and consistent communication. Greece was one of the first EU countries to announce the date of, and conditions and protocols for, border reopening. Since that announcement, Greece’s disease incidence has remained steady and there have been no changes to the announced protocols. The result: our joint research with trivago shows that Greece is now among the top five summer destinations for German travelers for the first time. In July and August, Greece will reach inbound airline ticketing levels that are approximately 50 percent of that achieved in the same period last year. This exceeds the rate in most other European summer destinations, including Croatia (35 percent), Portugal (around 30 percent), and Spain (around 40 percent). 6 Based on IATA Air Travel Pulse by McKinsey. In contrast, some destinations that have had inconsistent communications around the time frame of reopening have shown net cancellations of flights for June and July. Even for the high seasons toward the end of the year, inbound air travel ticketing barely reaches 30 percent of 2019 volumes.

Digital solutions can be an effective tool to bridge communication and to create consistency on protocols between governments and the private sector. In China, the health QR code system, which reflects past travel history and contact with infected people, is being widely used during the reopening stage. Travelers have to show their green, government-issued QR code before entering airports, hotels, and attractions. The code is also required for preflight check-in and, at certain destination airports, after landing.

4. Enabling a digital and analytics transformation within the tourism sector

Data sources and forecasts have shifted, and proliferated, in the crisis. Last year’s demand prediction models are no longer relevant, leaving many destinations struggling to understand how demand will evolve, and therefore how to manage supply. Uncertainty over the speed and shape of the recovery means that segmentation and marketing budgets, historically reassessed every few years, now need to be updated every few months. The tourism sector needs to undergo an analytics transformation to enable the coordination of marketing budgets, sector promotions, and calendars of events, and to ensure that products are marketed to the right population segment at the right time.

Governments have an opportunity to reimagine their roles in providing data infrastructure and capabilities to the tourism sector, and to investigate new and innovative operating models. This was already underway in some destinations before COVID-19. Singapore, for example, made heavy investments in its data and analytics stack over the past decade through the Singapore Tourism Analytics Network (STAN), which provided tourism players with visitor arrival statistics, passenger profiling, spending data, revenue data, and extensive customer-experience surveys. During the COVID-19 pandemic, real-time data on leading travel indicators and “nowcasts” (forecasts for the coming weeks and months) could be invaluable to inform the decisions of both public-sector and private-sector entities.

This analytics transformation will also help to address the digital gap that was evident in tourism even before the crisis. Digital services are vital for travelers: in 2019, more than 40 percent of US travelers used mobile devices to book their trips. 7 Global Digital Traveler Research 2019, Travelport, marketing.cloud.travelport.com; “Mobile travel trends 2019 in the words of industry experts,” blog entry by David MacHale, December 11, 2018, blog.digital.travelport.com. In Europe and the United States, as many as 60 percent of travel bookings are digital, and online travel agents can have a market share as high as 50 percent, particularly for smaller independent hotels. 8 Sean O’Neill, “Coronavirus upheaval prompts independent hotels to look at management company startups,” Skift, May 11, 2020, skift.com. COVID-19 is likely to accelerate the shift to digital as travelers look for flexibility and booking lead times shorten: more than 90 percent of recent trips in China  were booked within seven days of the trip itself. Many tourism businesses have struggled to keep pace with changing consumer preferences around digital. In particular, many tourism SMEs have not been fully able to integrate new digital capabilities in the way that larger businesses have, with barriers including language issues, and low levels of digital fluency. The commission rates on existing platforms, which range from 10 percent for larger hotel brands to 25 percent for independent hotels, also make it difficult for SMEs to compete in the digital space.

Governments are well-positioned to overcome the digital gap within the sector and to level the playing field for SMEs. The Tourism Exchange Australia (TXA) platform, which was created by the Australian government, is an example of enabling at scale. It acts as a matchmaker, connecting suppliers with distributors and intermediaries to create packages attractive to a specific segment of tourists, then uses tourist engagement to provide further analytical insights to travel intermediaries (Exhibit 3). This mechanism allows online travel agents to diversify their offerings by providing more experiences away from the beaten track, which both adds to Australia’s destination attractiveness, and gives small suppliers better access to customers.

Governments that seize the opportunity to reimagine tourism operations and oversight will be well positioned to steer their national tourism industries safely into—and set them up to thrive within—the next normal.

Download the article in Arabic  (513KB)

Margaux Constantin is an associate partner in McKinsey’s Dubai office, Steve Saxon is a partner in the Shanghai office, and Jackey Yu  is an associate partner in the Hong Kong office.

The authors wish to thank Hugo Espirito Santo, Urs Binggeli, Jonathan Steinbach, Yassir Zouaoui, Rebecca Stone, and Ninan Chacko for their contributions to this article.

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Global Tourism Statistics 2024:Facts and Forecasts

Home » Blog » Global Tourism Statistics 2024:Facts and Forecasts

After the massive hit of the COVID-19 pandemic, global tourism’s future and trends tend to move towards an upward shift. This paradigm shift has a gigantic impact on tourism and related activities. So, we will delve more into Global Tourism Statistics 2024:Facts and Forecasts today.

There was a subsequent rise in GDP after the COVID-19 pandemic period . Statista predicted in 2022 that the tourism industry will get back on track as tourists tend to be inbound and outbound from place to place.

Table of contents

Global tourism analysis, global tourism statistics 2019, global tourism statistics 2020, global tourism statistics 2021, global tourism statistics 2022, global tourism statistics 2023, global tourism statistics 2024 | predictive analysis, international tourist arrivals in 2024.

• Global Tourism Contributions to GDP 2024

Global Tourism Growth Rate 2024

Global tourism revenue growth rate 2024.

The tourism industry and activities started to flourish after the pandemic. The number started to rise again. Global Tourism Statistics predicted that the travel and tourism business will experience 18% growth in 2024.

This is the highest point after the pandemic period. Hotel bookings, travel, and tourism businesses are expected to reach new heights. Experts suggest it’s the best time to start your own travel agency business.

• International tourist arrivals worldwide were around 95,000 at the beginning of 2019.
• The growth rate of tourist arrivals was slower.
• Nearly $1.9 trillion was spent by tourists in 2019.
• Travel receipts were around $9.3 billion in 2019.

Global Tourism was about $8.9 trillion in 2019 . Tourists love to explore beautiful countries. And popular destinations. France tends to hold the Number 1 position in 2019 as more than 90 million tourists visit the country.

(Top 5 visited countries 2019)

Moreover, 2019 tourism was slightly disturbed by covid 19 from July. However, there were many popular destinations loved by tourists worldwide. 

In 2019, the total spending on world tourism reached a peak of $1.86 trillion, showing a growth of 1.81% compared to the previous year. 

This indicates that people tend to spend more on travel and tourism activities, contributing to the overall tourism industry’s economic enhancement. 

The increase in spending suggests a continued interest and investment in tourism experiences on a global scale.

There was a massive decline in the travel and tourism industry in 2020. The tourism industry declined by more than 67% compared to the previous year . This makes one of the greatest downward shifts in the tourism industry ever recorded after subsequent time.

Pacific island Fiji tends to face an economic crisis because of a decline in tourist and tourism activities. Countries relying totally on tourism were more affected this year.

From January to May 2020. International tourist arrivals declined by more than 56% similarly in April it was recorded with a decline of 97%.

(Decline in international tourist arrivals 2019 vs 2022))

The limited movement of people from place to place results in a massive loss for the aviation industry as well. 

Air passenger was reduced by almost 60.2% compared to 2019 . This creates the worst conditions for the airline industry. Among many industries airline industry was one of the most impacted as there was a decline in tourist flow.

• GDP of tourism ( 2.9 of GDP)  $624.7 billion was declined to $356.8 (1.7 of GDP) making it the greatest downfall of all time in tourism history.
• Total number of visitors in 2020 was comparatively low compared with the past 10 years of data.
• Tourism-dependent countries faced a major economic crisis.

Overall global tourism in 2020 didn’t grow that well the unpredictable circumstance has resulted in a massive decline in the GPD as well. There were approximately 1.5 billion tourist arrivals in 2019 and the number declined by more than 75% in 2020 the estimated tourist arrival in 2020 was around 381 million only. Compared with the 2019 tourist arrival the data fluctuation is very high.

The Tourism industry has gone through numerous uptrends and downtrends throughout the period. 2019 ended and 2020 was considered one of the most challenging years for the whole tourism industry. Regarding 2021 the tourism industry starts to rise at a minimal speed. 

In 2021 tourism industry start to gain speed at a minimal rate according to the popular data analytical site Statista. Global tourism worldwide increased by 4% in 2021 compared to 2020.

Matter of fact the international tourist arrival was 79% down compared with the 2019 tourist inbound data.

Recovering from the mass decline of 2020 the tourism industry started to increase with several 64.4% in 2021. The travel and tourism increment number in 2020 was only 50.7% 

(Decline in international tourist arrivals)

In 2021, the US had 22.1 million inbound arrivals, which is a 15% increase from 2020 and a 72% decrease from 2019.

• Overall increment in the tourism industry was recorded at more than 64.4 %
• Export revenues from international tourism dropped 59%.
• In 2021, the travel and tourism industry’s share of GDP increased from 1.54% in 2020 to 2.15% in 2021. 
• Compared to 2019 the contribution of GDP was still down in 2021 ( 49.1% ) only.
• Recovering from the pandemic travel and tourism businesses tend to increase by more than 362 billion dollars.

Regarding 2021 tourism status it has shown a little increment in terms of number compared with the 2020 data. The industry recorded a substantial 64.4% growth , surpassing the incremental rate in 2020.

Export revenues dropped by 59%, while the industry’s share of GDP improved from 1.54% in 2020 to 2.15% in 2021 . Despite signs of recovery, the sector has not reached its growth level in 2020.

Comparing the tourism condition with the year 2021 the number and data start to shift toward an upward curve. Analyzing the data deeply in 2022 total international tourism receipt reached the threshold of $1 trillion which is massive compared to the 2022 number.

However, the total receipts were still not able to reach the number of pre-pandemic. In 2022 more than 900 million tourists travel internationally. 

International tourist spending reached 64% of pre-pandemic levels. 2022 start to maintain sort of momentum to reach the peak point of travel and tourism activities.

   (Travel and tourism contribution over GDP from 2019 to 2022 )

• The total earned export revenue was still below the line ( 34 % ) below pre pre-pandemic level.
• $7.7 trillion contribution to global GDP
• Significant growth in spending of international visitors ( about 20.4% increment )
• 2022 travel and tourism generated more than 22 million new jobs . Significantly high in number compared to 2021 data.

The travel and tourism sector ultimately makes a contribution of 7.7 trillion dollars to global gross domestic product ( GDP ). The number is shifting in an upward trend compared with other previous years. 

The 2022 travel and tourism activities maintained a pace of recovery mode. The industry maintained to level up from the previous year. As it intends to create more jobs and contribute more to the global economy and GDP.

All the dimensions of the tourism industry in 2022  start to evolve and grow over time. Ultimately the revenue received from tourists hit a whopping $1 trillion and more than 900 million people travel globally.

The travel industry solely created millions of jobs and contributed to overall economic growth.

Popular website for travel and tourism data stated that more than 975 million tourists were traveling internationally in the year 2023. Compared with 2021 and 2022 this year seems to be beneficial for travel and tourism industries.

In the first quarter of 2023, there is a spike in the growth of tourist arrivals. International tourist arrival reached 80% of pre-pandemic level. This states that the year 2023 is a sort of recovery year for the tourism industry. After years the industry was able to reach this point.

The travel and tourism industry somehow was able to reach progress similar to the year 2019. Travel bookings were up r oughly 31% at the end of March 2023 compared to the same time in 2019.

The travel and tourism health progress up to 87% in the year 2023. The USA tends to be a prime actor as it was able to accumulate more than $190.39 billion U.S. dollars.

Followed by the supreme country China and Canada.

China accumulated around $154.02 billion U.S. dollars followed by Canada which is $16 billion U.S. dollars.

The total gap between Canada and the USA is around $174.39 billion U.S. dollars respectively. In terms of numbers, these countries seem to do well in the tourism industry.

  (Top 5 Visited Countries 2023 )

• Over 975 million tourists traveled worldwide in 2023 ( Jan to Sep)
• The total projected contribution of travel and tourism was around $2.2 trillion U.S. dollars toward global GDP.
• The total international receipt projected in 2023 was around USD 1.4 trillion .
• Compared with other years in 2023, there were more than 171 nights spent compared to 2022. 
• Rise in tourist traveling rate results into increment in increment in hotel occupancy rate up to 10% higher compared to the previous year.

Airline industries also tend to bounce back as revenues reach more than   $803 billion , Comparatively it’s higher than 2022 as it reached around 9.7%.

Certain external factors do impact the travel business globally. The economic sanctions on Russia by different nations have resulted in delays in travel and tourism as well. Similarly, the zero COVID strategy promulgated by China has also affected the tourism industry overall.

The momentum of global tourism could potentially shift to an upward curve if all external factors don’t interrupt travel and tourism activities.

2024 is regarded as one of the important years for the travel and tourism sector. As the impact of COVID-19 started to overcome the travel and tourism business all across the world started to gain momentum throughout the time.

There are thorough predictions made for 2024 tourism. Multiple analyses tend to show potential opportunities for the tourism sector. From 2019 to 2023 the industry of tourism was scattered by COVID-19 after the interference of COVID-19 the cycle of 2024 tourism got into rollercoaster rides.

However, global tourism spending is predicted to reach $2 trillion in 2024 . After a long period, it’s predicted that international travel trips will exceed pre-pandemic levels in 2024, marking a 3% increase from 2019 .

The overall tourism market will get to a new level. The prediction is that the travel and tourism market will reach $927.30 billion in 2024 . Which is one of the big numbers compared to the previous year’s global tourism statistics.

After lot’s of ups and downs finally the travel and tourism industry is getting into momentum. It’s expected that tourist arrivals in 2024 will increase by 17.23% from the past year i.e. 2023. If the industry can meet the expectation there will be massive changes in the overall tourism business.

• The expected international tourists is about 1.53 billion which is significantly large compared to the previous year.
• the GDP contribution by tourism in 2024 will be 10.6%
• Year-to-year growth in 2024 will be increased by a large number as expectation of over 17.24 % is made.
• Ultimately the revenue will be around US 9.4 billion American dollars .

In 2024, the travel and tourism industry is on the rise after facing challenges. There’s a big anticipation of a 17.23% increase in tourist arrivals compared to 2023.

  (International Tourist Arrival in 2024 )

If this expectation is met, it could bring significant positive changes to the overall tourism business.

The projected number of international tourists for 2024 is a substantial 1.53 billion, a noteworthy increase from the previous year.

The industry’s contribution to the global GDP in 2023 was 10.6%. Looking ahead, there’s an optimistic year-to-year growth forecast of over 17.24% in 2024.

In terms of revenue, the industry is expected to generate around US $9.4 billion . These promising figures indicate a strong recovery and growth for the travel and tourism sector in the coming year.

Global Tourism Contributions to GDP 2024

The travel and tourism industry is getting on track after facing challenges in recent years. For 2024, there is an optimistic growth outlook:

• Tourist arrivals are expected to increase by 17.23% from 2023 . If this matches the expectations, it could bring major positive impacts for the overall tourism business.
• International tourist projections sit at a substantial 1.53 billion for 2024, a significant jump from the previous year’s numbers.
• The industry contributed 10.6% to global GDP in 2023.
• For 2024, year-over-year growth forecasts are a promising 17.24%, indicating strong momentum.
• In terms of revenue generation, the travel sector could reach around USD 9.4 billion.

  (2024 Global Tourism Contribution To GDP)

These numbers and projections point to a rapid recovery and expansion period for international and domestic travel over the coming year.

More people are expected to take vacations and business trips that could greatly benefit tour operators, hotels, airlines, and other travel entities after facing struggles not too long ago.

If the above expectations and forecasts are fulfilled, 2024 is shaping up to be a beneficial year for travel and tourism when looking at tourist arrivals, GDP contributions, growth percentages, and total revenue creation. There seems to be renewed optimism across the sector.

Overall ,the travel and tourism industry holds a positive growth approach in 2024 according to projections:

• Global tourism saw significant declines in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, momentum picked back up in 2022.
• For 2023, the estimated growth rate in global tourism is between 30% to 35% as the industry rebounds.
• Looking ahead to 2024 , the global tourism growth rate is forecasted to be around 34.7%.
• This would represent a noticeable jump from the expected 30-35% growth in 2023 showing sustained positive momentum.
• If 2024 hits the projected 34.7% in tourism growth , it would take global travel significantly above 2019 volumes indicating a full industry comeback has been achieved.
• This global growth also implies strong performance in major tourism markets across different regions like Europe, Asia Pacific, the Americas, the Middle East, and Africa.

  (Global Tourism Growth Rate 2024)

Ultimately, 2024 is setting up to be another very high growth year for travel globally with expectations of over one-third increase in tourism versus 2023 numbers.

So, we suggest that travel business owners be ready to create travel booking websites and generate revenue and growth substantially with huge scope.

All signals point to a sector that has recovered to pre-pandemic strength and managed to undo the large drops observed in 2020 and 2021.

International tourist arrivals are projected to reach 1.53 billion, representing a substantial recovery with an expected year-over-year growth of 17.24% from the 975 million arrivals in 2023.

After facing major challenges in 2020 and 2021, the tourism industry is all set for substantial revenue growth in 2024:

• Global tourism revenue saw a major decline of nearly 50% at the peak of the pandemic. This significantly impacted many travel businesses and destinations.
• A rebound is already underway in 2022 and is expected to continue accelerating through 2023 with an estimated 30-35% growth rate .
• For 2024, global tourism revenues are forecasted to grow around 34.7% year-over-year.
• Gaining a 34.7% revenue growth target would indicate tourism has fully recovered from the pandemic demand shock and is expanding rapidly again.

  (Global Tourism Revenue Growth 2024)

If achieved, 2024 would likely represent the highest-ever revenues for the tourism industry globally surpassing pre-pandemic levels.

The projections for a nearly 35% boost in tourism revenues globally paint an extremely optimistic picture of what lies ahead for the sector in 2024 as demand swells.

This rapid growth trajectory beyond 2023 forecasts shows tourism maintaining great momentum as a key recovery success story among industries worldwide.

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The overview for tourism in 2024 is highly positive across expected metrics. International tourist arrivals are forecasted to hit 1.5 billion, representing a rapid 17.23% increase from 2023’s estimates, elevating volumes well beyond pre-pandemic levels.

The sector’s contribution to global GDP, which recorded 10.6% in 2023, is also expected to rise considerably in 2024, reflecting its full rise in economic impact. Most notably, tourism revenues could grow up to 34.7% year-over-year, reaching around $9.4 billion globally .

This Global Tourism Statistics 2024:Facts and Forecasts would be the highest growth rate realized since before the COVID-19 downturn,, these projections point to 2024 being a standout year as the industry looks positively to completely negate pandemic losses and reach new historical highs across metrics like tourist arrivals, revenues, and GDP.

Yam Bahadur Chhetri is a content writer and vivid contributor to the WordPress community and a WordPress enthusiast with an experience of 7+ years in the relative field. He also loves to develop WordPress Themes, Plugins, and custom WordPress development for clients.

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UN Tourism | Bringing the world closer

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International Tourism to Reach Pre-Pandemic Levels in 2024

• All Regions
• 19 Jan 2024

Following a strong 2023, international tourism is well on track to return to pre-pandemic levels in 2024.

According to the first UNWTO World Tourism Barometer of the year, international tourism ended 2023 at 88% of pre-pandemic levels , with an estimated 1.3 billion international arrivals . The unleashing of remaining pent-up demand, increased air connectivity, and a stronger recovery of Asian markets and destinations, are expected to underpin a full recovery by the end of 2024.

Middle East, Europe and Africa performed strongest in 2023

The latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer provides a comprehensive overview of the sector's performance in 2023, tracking recovery by global region, sub-region and destination. Key takeaways include:

• The Middle East led recovery in relative terms as the only region to overcome pre-pandemic levels with arrivals 22% above 2019.
• Europe , the world's most visited region, reached 94% of 2019 levels, supported by intra-regional demand and travel from the United States.
• Africa recovered 96% of pre-pandemic visitors and Americas reached 90%.
• Asia and the Pacific reached 65% of pre-pandemic levels following the reopening of several markets and destinations. However, performance is mixed, with South Asia already recovering 87% of 2019 levels and North-East Asia around 55%. 

International Tourist Arrivals (% change over 2019)

Available data shows several destinations, including both large, established destinations as well as small and emerging ones, reporting double-digit growth in international arrivals in 2023 when compared to 2019. Four sub-regions exceeded their 2019 arrival levels: Southern Mediterranean Europe, Caribbean, Central America and North Africa.

UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili says: "The latest UNWTO data underscores tourism's resilience and rapid recovery, with pre-pandemic numbers expected by the end of 2024. The rebound is already having a significant impact on economies, jobs, growth and opportunities for communities everywhere. These numbers also recall the critical task of progressing sustainability and inclusion in tourism development"

International tourism hit US$1.4 trillion in 2023

The latest UNWTO data also highlights the economic impact of recovery.

• International tourism receipts reached USD 1.4 trillion in 2023 according to preliminary estimates, about 93% of the USD 1.5 trillion earned by destinations in 2019.
• Total export revenues from tourism (including passenger transport) are estimated at USD 1.6 trillion in 2023, almost 95% of the USD 1.7 trillion recorded in 2019.
• Preliminary estimates on the economic contribution of tourism, measured in tourism direct gross domestic product (TDGDP) point to USD 3.3 trillion in 2023, or 3% of global GDP. This indicates a recovery of pre-pandemic TDGDP driven by strong domestic and international tourism.

Several destinations reported strong growth in international tourism receipts during the first ten to twelve months of 2023, exceeding in some cases growth in arrivals. Strong demand for outbound travel was also reported by several large source markets this period, with many exceeding 2019 levels.

The sustained recovery is also reflected in the performance of industry indicators. According to the UNWTO Tourism Recovery Tracker, both international air capacity and passenger demand recovered about 90% of pre-pandemic levels through October 2023 (IATA). Global occupancy rates in accommodation establishments reached 65% in November, slightly above 62% in November 2022 (based on STR data).

Looking Ahead to 2024

International tourism is expected to fully recover pre-pandemic levels in 2024, with initial estimates pointing to 2% growth above 2019 levels. This central forecast by UNWTO remains subject to the pace of recovery in Asia and to the evolution of existing economic and geopolitical downside risks.  

The positive outlook is reflected in the latest UNWTO Tourism Confidence Index survey, with 67% of tourism professionals indicating better or much better prospects for 2024 compared to 2023. Some 28% expect similar performance, while only 6% expect tourism performance in 2024 to be worse than last year. Key considerations include:

• There is still significant room for recovery across Asia. The reopening of several source markets and destinations will boost recovery in the region and globally.
• Chinese outbound and inbound tourism is expected to accelerate in 2024, due to visa facilitation and improved air capacity. China is applying visa-free travel for citizens of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia for a year to 30 November 2024.
• Visa and travel facilitation measures will promote travel to and around the Middle East and Africa with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to implement a unified tourist visa, similar to the Schengen visa, and measures to facilitate intra-African travel in Kenya and Rwanda.
• Europe is expected to drive results again in 2024. In March, Romania and Bulgaria will join the Schengen area of free movement, and Paris will host the Summer Olympics in July and August.
• Strong travel from the United States, backed by a strong US dollar, will continue to benefit destinations in the Americas and beyond. As in 2023, robust source markets in Europe, the Americas and the Middle East, will continue to fuel tourism flows and spending around the world.
• Economic and geopolitical headwinds continue to pose significant challenges to the sustained recovery of international tourism and confidence levels. Persisting inflation, high interest rates, volatile oil prices and disruptions to trade can continue to impact transport and accommodations costs in 2024.
• Against this backdrop, tourists are expected to increasingly seek value for money and travel closer to home. Sustainable practices and adaptability will also play an increasing role in consumer choice. 
• Staff shortages remain a critical issue, as tourism businesses face a shortfall in labor to cope with high demand.
• The evolution of the Hamas-Israel conflict may disrupt travel in the Middle East and impact traveler confidence. Uncertainty derived from the Russian aggression against Ukraine as well as other mounting geopolitical tensions, continue to weigh on confidence.

Related links

• Download the News Release on PDF
• World Tourism Barometer | EXCERPT | Volume 22 • Issue 1 • January 2024
• World Tourism Barometer | PPT Version | Volume 22 • Issue 1 • January 2024
• UNWTO Tourism Recovery Tracker
• UNWTO World Tourism Barometer
• UNWTO Tourism Data Dashboard

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Global tourism is booming. These people would rather it wasn’t

T he message was scrawled on a makeshift wooden placard with black marker pen and was in block capitals. It read: "Everywhere you look everyone is foreign.”

Police said there were 10,000 marchers on the streets of Palma in Majorca on the last weekend of May at the start of the summer holiday season. Their message was that tourism was making life in Palma unliveable for locals.

But why does there suddenly seem to be such a strong sense of grievance in places where for decades large numbers of tourists have been the norm?

The answer, it would seem, is complicated. A Covid hangover is definitely a factor. But so too is the fact that, globally, many more people now have the money to travel. This presents big questions about the future of tourism.

The year 2024 is set to be a record-breaking one for tourism, surpassing the previous high in 2019. It appears that the travel and tourism industry is back with a vengeance after the pandemic, with any lingering doubts over the safety of travelling now banished.

In Spain’s Balearic Islands - which include Majorca - pent-up demand post pandemic has contributed to rents rising to such an extent that locals say they are being priced out of living in their own home towns. The BBC has reported on the story of a chef in Ibiza who has lived in his car for the past three years. Nurses, doctors and police officers are also said to be struggling to afford local rents.

It’s not hard to see why locals can end up feeling like extras in their own movie.

In spite of recessionary pressures, more people in the West feel they can afford regular foreign trips – indeed, some see it as an essential purchase and a virtual human right.

The sentiment is similar around 1,500 miles away on the Canary Islands. They have been a favourite for Brits for decades and tourism has become a vital part of the economy. Today it accounts for 35% of the archipelago’s GDP and 40% of its jobs.

The cost of living for locals is an issue here too.

Chris Elkington is the editor of the local newspaper for English speakers, The Canarian Weekly. He started living in Tenerife in 1991 as an 18-30 holiday rep and has seen tourism flourish over the years.

But with that unchecked growth comes a downside: rental prices are too high for many locals and the average income in the Canaries is the lowest in Spain. Many hospitality staff have been forced to move away.

Mr Elkington says a constant increase in tourist accommodation has come at a price.

“A lot of landlords are now very wary and are moving away from renting their properties out long term and turning to holiday lets via online platforms,” he says. “The actual number of properties available has decreased massively and the price has increased exponentially. And unfortunately it's made finding somewhere to live very, very expensive.”

But in the Canaries, affordability is not the only issue. The environmental impact of tourism is also viewed by some as increasingly unsustainable.

At a demonstration attended by 20,000 people at the end of April, a spokesperson for the Canaries Have Had Enough collective said the situation has reached a critical mass: “We’ve reached the point where the balance between the use of resources and the welfare of the population has broken down, especially over the last year.”

Mr Elkington points to the fact that tourist areas with their large number of hotels and pools can use up to six times more water than resident areas.

“They keep building more hotels and expanding the area of tourism,” he says. “But unfortunately the resources that are here can't actually cope with it.”

The Tourist Trap

The travel industry is booming with millions more people holidaying abroad each year. How can we stop overtourism and protect the planet from its impact on the environment?

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In the Italian city of Venice, a Unesco World Heritage site, school teacher Marta Sottoriva used to get into a small boat to block the huge cruise liners that regularly entered the city centre and offloaded thousands of day-trippers. That battle has been won - cruises are now restricted to the city’s industrial port.

But today fewer than 50,000 people actually live in Venice, compared to more than 150,000 in the 1970s.

Despite the cruise ship ban, Ms Sottoriva is not happy. “I know a lot of people who even if they have money, they have an income, they can’t find houses,” she says.

“We are at the level at which there are more tourist beds than there are beds for locals.”

The great danger of tourism is that an area is starved of a living flourishing mixed community with schools, local amenities and regular shops and instead becomes a historic theme park. “Disneyfied” is the description used by a lot of protestors.

So what measures are being taken to counter overcrowding in popular destinations?

One approach is to try to regulate the flow of visitors at peak times. This can be done by charging admission fees for day-trippers and providing data to potential visitors as to when the busiest times to avoid will be. Venice has just introduced a trial €5 fee for day trippers at the most popular times and many other famous historical attractions are raising their charges to tourists.

The new mantra being banded around by tourist boards is “high value, low volume”. This means catering to travellers who will spend a lot of money and are mindful of their presence in a fragile environment.

Another solution is to encourage people to avoid peak season travel and come in the “shoulder season”. Staggering school holidays could also prevent so many families descending on the same resort over an intense six-week period.

Many in the tourism industry also talk of “dispersal”. This means persuading tourists to go to alternative - similar, but less busy - destinations. Limiting car parking space is becoming a favoured approach to reduce the viability of coming just for day trips.

That doesn’t prevent tourist buses dropping off big groups, however. And it is hard to see how a tourist from, say South Korea, would not want to visit the Eiffel Tower and Venice, on their hard-earned first two week trip to Europe.

It isn’t only in places that have been on the tourist trail for years that locals are feeling overwhelmed.

Hallstatt in Austria is an undeniably picturesque little lakeside Alpine village with a gorgeous panoramic view that could come out of a fairytale book. The common urban myth is that the town is the basis for Arendelle, the village in the hugely popular Disney movie Frozen.

I met a mother from South Korea who had brought her two young daughters dressed up as princesses for this very reason.

There are around 800 residents in Hallstatt who are simply dwarfed by the 10,000 or so daily visitors - many of whom descend from large tourist buses and proceed to walk around, sometimes through residents gardens, in search of the perfect selfie.

Some locals have had enough and last year a demonstration blocked the tunnel that leads road traffic into the town.

Dr Friedrich Idam, a long-time resident and urban architect, was one of them. He lives in a house on a hill that overlooks the lake. He told me that he doesn’t want tourists who only come for a day trip. He says they spend little money and have made life unbearable for him. “There’s no more public space for me and my co-inhabitants,” says Dr Idam.

”In the churchyard tourists take selfies and pose on the graves. The problem of Hallstatt is that it is so Instagrammable. If you come in your car and stay only for an hour, I say you are not welcome here.”

The Mayor, Alexander Schuetz, is sympathetic but feels helpless: “Everybody knows it‘s just too much but we can’t just block the street and tell people you can’t come in because it’s a public right of way. It’s not a dead end because people go through Hallstatt going to other towns.”

Last year there was a short lived plan to stop congestion at a famous “selfie” site by the local council who put up a fence to block that particular viewpoint. They had to take it down when too many residents complained it blocked their own view of their beautiful lake.

And then there is the emergence of new tourist markets with the disposable income and desire to explore the world as they have never been able to before.

Tourists from China first emerged as a major addition to the travelling global population in the early part of this century. And an even bigger source of international tourism is supplanting them in terms of impact.

India is the world’s fastest-growing major economy and now has the world’s largest population. A burgeoning affluent middle class in a country of 1.4 billion people is splashing the cash on dream trips to distant destinations.

Last year, 27 million Indian tourists travelled internationally and that’s predicted to soar to 70 million by 2030. Indian airlines have placed orders for almost a thousand new aircraft in anticipation of a big rise in demand.

Deepti Bhatnagar, who started India’s first ever travel show in 2000, says social media has played a major role in fuelling demand for travel among Indians. “They want to go to certain places to get the selfie or they think, ‘That’s one of the most photographed spots,’ and they have to be there,” she says.

The vast majority of the Indian population cannot afford to travel - but with such a huge population it only requires the tiny fraction of wealthy and even super-wealthy to enter the travel market and global figures are immediately significantly boosted. There are around 500 billionaires and a million millionaires in India. And many have expensive tastes.

It’s striking that while most things in life are becoming ever-more expensive, short-haul flying remains very cheap, sometimes less than a round of drinks in the pub. Orders for new commercial planes around the world are soaring. It’s estimated 3% to 4% of greenhouse emissions are caused by aviation and that figure is expected to rise as other industries go greener faster.

Meanwhile, there is an ethical conundrum to consider here - and with it a charge of hypocrisy. Many in the West, myself included, have enjoyed the fruits of the post-war travel boom, exploring far flung parts of the world without thinking of the unwanted consequences of mass tourism. So who are we now to preach to younger generations for whom gap years and backpacking are almost a rites of passage and indeed life enhancing experiences?

And who are we to lecture people from developing economies who can only now afford to do the same?

There appears to be no simple answer to who should be where and when, something nodded to by another of those placards back in Palma.

It read: “We live off tourism but tourism doesn't let us live.”

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Rising global temperatures are already affecting the tourism industry - here's how

From rising heat to rising seas, holiday hotspots the world over are at risk from climate change. Image:  Gaddafi Rusli on Unsplash

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• Tourism is crucial to many economies, but rising global temperatures are putting parts of the industry at risk.
• The climate crisis is changing the face of many tourist destinations and is already making some holidaymakers rethink their plans.
• The World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on the Future of Sustainable Tourism is working to help the tourism sector build towards a more sustainable future.

Hot weather is what many people go on holiday for. But record global temperatures have been sending people home early from their vacations this July, raising questions about what kind of impact the climate crisis could have on the tourism sector – and on tourism-dependent economies.

Greece – where travel and tourism make up 15% of GDP – has had to evacuate over 2,000 holidaymakers after wildfires broke out on the island of Rhodes. Athens took the unprecedented step of closing its top tourist attraction, the Acropolis, after temperatures reached 45°C .

"The climate crisis is already here ,” said Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. “It will manifest itself everywhere in the Mediterranean with greater disasters."

Over in Italy, visitors to Rome have been returning home early because of the heatwave, while hospitals have faced a rise in the number of medical emergencies . Admissions at one hospital reached their highest since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Soaring temperatures have not just been ending holidays – they’ve even stopped some from getting started. This is because aircraft find it harder to get off the ground in hotter conditions, as it makes the air less dense .

US airlines flying out of Las Vegas – where temperatures hit 46°C – have consequently had to reduce passenger numbers, remove baggage, reduce the level of fuel they are carrying or delay flights until temperatures fall.

The impact of the climate crisis on tourism

The climate crisis has played an "absolutely overwhelming" part in the northern hemisphere heatwave , according to World Weather Attribution. And heatwaves will become hotter and longer unless the world quickly halts its use of fossil fuels, they say.

The tourism sector creates around a tenth of the greenhouse gas emissions that are driving the climate crisis , according to the World Travel & Tourism Council. Practically half of all transport emissions stem from global tourism, other studies say. And total emissions from tourism are forecast to rise by a quarter between 2016 and 2030, says the UN World Tourism Organization.

But the tourism industry and tourism-dependent economies are also highly vulnerable to the impacts of rising temperatures.

The Caribbean attracted over 28 million visitors in 2022 and its economy is more reliant on travel and tourism than any other region , according to the World Travel & Tourism Council. Tourism makes up around 90% of GDP in Aruba and the British Virgin Islands .

Yet these low-lying states are seeing sea levels rise almost 10% faster than the global average , according to the World Meteorological Association. The vast majority of holiday resorts in the Caribbean are coastal, leaving 60% of them at risk from sea level rise , according to the University of Cambridge.

Biodiversity damage

Coral bleaching and increasing droughts are already impacting the Caribbean’s tourism potential , the UK government notes.

Meanwhile, South-East Asia’s most popular costal destinations are suffering environmental damage from factors including pollution and overtourism . Thailand’s Maya Bay, Malaysia’s Sipadan Island and the Philippines’ Boraca Island are all being impacted, and some countries in the region are now closing tourist spots to give the most damaged areas time to recover , the Harvard School of Public Health notes.

“As the prime motivation for visitors to come to the region hinges on local landscapes, biodiversity, heritage and cultures, the sector’s survival depends on the ability to retain and preserve as much of these natural resources as possible,” The ASEAN Post reports.

The prospects of African safaris could also be hit by the climate crisis, which is forecast to lead to the loss of over half of the continent’s bird and mammal species by 2100 and trigger huge losses of plant species .

Measures are being taken to protect the continent’s natural bounties. The Seychelles islands off East Africa have added conservation guidlines to the national constitution – the first time a country has done so.

Sustainable, nature-based tourism is a potentially huge economic driver for Africa , and could create 40% more full-time jobs than agricutlure, the UN Environment Programme says.

High temperatures will change tourism patterns

Rising temperatures are likely to result in tourists travelling in spring and autumn rather than the summer , as well as opting for cooler destinations, Italy’s environment ministry says.

There has already been a 10% drop in the number of people planning to visit the Mediterranean in June-November this year following last year’s high temperatures, according to the European Travel Commission. It says tourists are considering trips to the Czech Republic, Denmark, Ireland and Bulgaria instead.

On top of this, “ large-scale land loss” is already eating into the Mediterranean’s beaches , according to Germany’s federal environment agency. One beach in Mallorca now has space for half the amount of huts it used to have, as well as fewer sun loungers, DW News reports.

The Global Risks Report 2023 ranked failure to mitigate climate change as one of the most severe threats in the next two years, while climate- and nature- related risks lead the rankings by severity over the long term.

The World Economic Forum’s Centre for Nature and Climate is a multistakeholder platform that seeks to safeguard our global commons and drive systems transformation. It is accelerating action on climate change towards a net-zero, nature-positive future.

Learn more about our impact:

• Scaling up green technologies: Through a partnership with the US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry, and over 65 global businesses, the First Movers Coalition has committed $12 billion in purchase commitments for green technologies to decarbonize the cement and concrete industry.
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• Sustainable food production: Our Food Action Alliance is engaging 40 partners who are working on 29 flagship initiatives to provide healthy, nutritious, and safe foods in ways that safeguard our planet. In Vietnam, it supported the upskilling of 2.2 million farmers and aims to provide 20 million farmers with the skills to learn and adapt to new agricultural standards.
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• Circular economy: Our SCALE 360 initiative is reducing the environmental impacts of value chains within the fashion, food, plastics and electronics industries, positively impacting over 100,000 people in 60 circular economy interventions globally.

Want to know more about our centre’s impact or get involved? Contact us .

The spike in temperatures is also worrying the organizers of the 2024 Olympics Games in Paris . They are closely monitoring long-term weather models, with International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach saying the climate crisis is affecting how sporting events – a major driver of tourism – will be organized around the globe.

Colder climates are suffering, too

The Alps region attracts around 120 million tourists a year , and tourism is critical to the economies of many local towns. Skiing and snowboarding are top of many visitor lists, but rising global temperatures have reduced seasonal snow cover in the Alps by 8.4% per decade in the past 50 years.

Canada’s Whistler ski resort has responded to this by offering more snow-free activities – so much so that it now makes more money in summer, according to TIME magazine.

But adapting in this way is not an option for all tourism destinations, such as coastal resorts. With coastal tourism accounting for more than 60% of European holidays and more than 80% of US tourism revenues, the tourism industry and the countries that rely on it may need to urgently rethink the way they operate.

“In the coming years, the success of travel and tourism businesses and destinations will be increasingly tied to their ability to manage and operate under ever greater ecological and environmental threats,” says the World Economic Forum’s Travel & Tourism Development Index .

Have you read?

Is 2023 going to be the hottest year on record, what is sustainable aviation fuel and why are only 0.1% of flights powered by it, how global tourism can become more sustainable, inclusive and resilient, how tourism can change.

Sustainable tourism is one way to help protect countries and economies at risk from the climate crisis. It is also one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals .

The UN World Tourism Organization defines sustainable tourism as “tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities".

This could include limiting tourist numbers (as is being done in Southern France to help protect ecosystems ), banning polluting forms of transports (as the Dutch capital Amsterdam is doing with cruise ships and the Spanish city of Barcelona is trying to do ).

Staying only in environmentally friendly resorts is another option. Some are ensuring they run on renewable power, harvest rainwater and cut waste.

Avoiding flying is another option. British eco-charity Possible is promoting this through its Climate Perks initiative . UK companies who sign up agree to give staff increased paid leave to cover the time needed for slower, greener modes of transport such as trains or coaches when they go on holiday.

Ditching planes is also part of the “slow travel” trend . It advocates dropping the “bucket list” approach of ticking off as many destinations as possible, with travellers instead staying in one place and experiencing a local culture more fully.

The World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on the Future of Sustainable Tourism is working to help the tourism sector create pathways towards net-zero, nature-positive tourism that benefits local communities.

“Diversifying tourism strategies and activities is essential for countries to build resilience against economic fluctuations, mitigate overreliance on a single industry, and foster sustainable development that benefits both the local communities and the environment,” says Topaz Smith, Community Lead for Aviation, Travel and Tourism at the World Economic Forum.

“Long-term planning is crucial for a more risk-resilient travel and tourism sector that anticipates and plans for future headwinds while maximizing development potential.”

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