As one of the Asia-Pacific region's leading industries, the travel and tourism sector in China provided over ** million jobs in 2023. Likewise, a high number of jobs were also generated in India thanks to the travel and tourism market, with about ** million jobs. In fact, many Asia-Pacific countries made the worldwide ranking for the most jobs produced by the travel and tourism industry. Economic contribution Through the generation of more jobs and increased levels of affluence in many Asia-Pacific countries, citizens now have more money to be able to travel. Domestic and intra-regional travel has created a positive impact on the economy, as overall domestic tourism expenditure has increased, prevalent especially in Southeast Asia. The travel and tourism industry also made significant contributions towards the GDPs of Asia-Pacific countries. As many countries depend on the industry to maintain and stimulate their economies, they are making it easier for travelers to gain access to their countries through relaxing visa requirements and introducing cheaper airlines. The future of tourism The Asia-Pacific region has adapted to the current demands of travelers, who increasingly wish for more environmentally friendly methods of travel. Regarding the environmental footprint, the contributions of travel and tourism in the region to the total greenhouse gas emissions has slightly increased year-over-year since 2021, but stayed below ** percent. The most sustainable travel destinations in APAC were Goyang, South Korea and Singapore, according to the sustainability index. APAC proved itself in terms of growing popularity, as the region demonstrated high tourist arrivals.

Contributing a staggering *** trillion U.S. dollars to China’s GDP in 2023, the travel and tourism industry proved to be a vital industry for the East Asian country’s economy. This pivotal industry provided huge GDP contributions to a number of countries across the Asia-Pacific region. Japan and India both saw impressive figures, while Southeast Asia alone has experienced constant GDP increases from the travel and tourism industry. Why Asia-Pacific The travel and tourism industry has made significant monetary additions to many developing economies throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Southeast Asia stands in the foreground as one of the regions which relies heavily on its tourism success. A success which could be inferred through the rising number of tourist arrivals to the ASEAN states. A likely reason why APAC has become one of the leading regions for tourism, could be related to its competitive prices. Many countries in the Asia-Pacific region are cheaper than the usual Western tourist hotspots, in this way, the region has begun to appeal to an increasing number of international travelers. Domestic tourism The Asia-Pacific region has not only attracted international tourists throughout recent years but has also received a great influx of domestic tourists. Growing economies in the region, resulting in an emerging middle class, have made the possibility of increased domestic travel a reality. Intra-regional tourism accounted for approximately half of APAC’s tourism.

In 2024, the travel and tourism industry in India contributed around 256 billion U.S. dollars to the country’s GDP. In 2023, the country welcomed over nine million foreign tourists, generating foreign exchange earnings of over 27 billion U.S. dollars. Domestic travel on the rise With a rich culture, ancient monuments, and mesmerizing natural beauty, India is one of the leading tourist destinations in the world. This holds true not only for foreign tourists, but also for the increasingly monied middle-class of the country who are spending more time and money than ever before on domestic travel. In 2021, the domestic expenditure on tourism was around 150 billion U.S. dollars. The collective government spending on the tourism sector is expected to reach 5.65 billion dollars by 2028. The cost of tourism It comes as no surprise that out of the most visited monuments in India, the Taj Mahal in Agra ranks number one for both foreign as well as domestic tourists. Along with these popular tourist destinations, travellers are also exploring many other destinations in the country, like the pristine high-altitude plains of Leh and Ladakh or the lush green north-eastern forests. It now remains to be seen whether and how well the country manages to balance the influx of people with its efforts for the historical sites and natural resources conservation.

In 2023, the travel and tourism industry contributed approximately *** billion U.S. dollars to the GDP in Southeast Asia. Comparatively, this value was about ***** billion U.S. dollars in 2019. GDP contributions from this industry in Southeast Asia saw consistent increases throughout the past decade until they halved in 2020 due to the global pandemic. Tourism in Southeast Asia is recovering The number of tourists in Southeast Asia increased significantly in the last decade. While the COVID-19 pandemic affected the tourism sector heavily, the Southeast Asian region is recovering the fastest from international tourist arrivals to the Asia-Pacific region. Southeast Asia was also the Asian subregion with a high year-on-year change in the monthly number of international tourist arrivals, especially from January to March. Importance of the tourism industry in Southeast Asia As tourism in Southeast Asia contributes highly to the GDP, many countries are dependent on tourism to stimulate their newly emerging economies. In addition to the monetary value, the tourism industry contributes significantly to employment in Southeast Asian countries. Indonesia falls into the top five leading countries with the highest total contribution of travel and tourism to employment worldwide. To maintain and even encourage the growth of the tourism sector, both regarding domestic and international tourists, many Southeast Asian countries are initiating programs such as easier visa attainment and the establishment of low-cost airlines to stimulate the tourism industry.  

In 2023, the direct contribution of tourism & hospitality industry to India's GDP was over 231 billion U.S. dollars. This was forecasted to be 523 billion U.S. dollars by 2034. India had the second highest tourism GDP contribution in Asia-Pacific. Ever-growing industry    Travel and tourism is one of India’s largest economic sectors, ranking eighth among the leading countries in terms of direct contribution to GDP. As a dynamic sector, it was estimated to provide employment to over 81 million people in 2018, including both direct and indirect employment. Even though a variety of skilled jobs are offered in this sector, employment under passenger transportation has been the highest through the years. Tourism as revenue machinery Most of the tourism revenue in India comes from domestic tourists. However, India has witnessed an exponential rise in foreign exchange earnings since 2000, along with an increased inflow of foreign tourists into the country. Even though India is not among the top ten countries with the highest foreign tourism revenue, it is not too far behind. In recent years, the government has implemented new visa policies and advertised niche tourism products to boost tourism.

In 2024, the total contribution of travel and tourism to the global gross domestic product (GDP) amounted to **** trillion U.S. dollars. This figure, which includes the direct, indirect, and induced impact of the global travel and tourism market, represented an increase in total contribution to GDP of *** percent over 2019. As forecast, the total contribution of the travel and tourism sector to the global GDP was expected to reach **** trillion U.S. dollars in 2025. Which countries record the highest travel and tourism contribution to GDP? GDP is the total value of all goods and services produced in a country in a year. It is considered an important indicator of a country's economic strength, and a positive change in GDP is a sign of economic growth. Both before and after the impact of COVID-19, the United States and China were by far the leading travel markets based on the total contribution of travel and tourism to GDP, followed by Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom. What are the most visited countries in the world? In 2023, France was the country with the highest number of international tourist arrivals worldwide, welcoming 100 million international visitors. While the United States reported the third-highest number of inbound tourist arrivals that year, it was the destination with the highest international tourism receipts worldwide, ranking ahead of Spain and the United Kingdom.

In 2023, the travel and tourism sector in the United States contributed approximately 2.36 trillion U.S. dollars to gross domestic product (GDP). This figure saw growth over the pre-pandemic levels of 2019 when the travel and tourism sector contributed 2.27 trillion U.S. dollars to the North American country's economy.

In 2024, the direct and indirect contribution of travel and tourism to the United Kingdom's gross domestic product (GDP) was *** percent higher than in 2019, the year prior to the onset of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Overall, these industries' total contribution to the country's GDP amounted to roughly *** billion British pounds in 2024. Has tourism in the UK recovered from the impact of COVID-19? While inbound resident visits to the UK dropped to just above ***** million in 2021 - the lowest figure reported in *** decades - the volume of inbound tourist visits to the United Kingdom rebounded in 2022, and grew to ** million in 2023. International arrivals, however, remained below pre-pandemic levels. Similarly, while outbound tourist visits from the UK experienced around a ******** increase in 2022 compared to the previous year, the country still reported around ***** million fewer trips abroad in 2023 than in 2019. What are the favorite holiday destinations among Britons? Either before or after the impact of the health crisis, vacationing remained the main travel purpose for outbound visits from the UK. In 2023, ***** was the most visited holiday destination by UK travelers, followed by *************************.

As of 2023, the share of travel and tourism in total employment in Africa increased to five percent. In the previous year, it stood at 4.7 percent. Moreover, compared to 2008, the total contribution of the sector to employment in the region decreased considerably, as it reached 7.75 percent in that year.

This statistic describes the total employment contribution from tourism and travel to employment in the Gulf Cooperation Council from 2012 to 2017, with an estimate for 2018 and a forecast for 2028. According to forecasts, the total contribution of tourism and travel to employment in the GCC will be about 2.93 million jobs by 2028.

The absolute economic contribution of tourism in Latvia was forecast to continuously increase between 2024 and 2029 by in total 1.2 billion U.S. dollars (+42.97 percent). After the ninth consecutive increasing year, the economic contribution is estimated to reach 3.8 billion U.S. dollars and therefore a new peak in 2029. Depited is the economic contribution of the tourism sector in the country or region at hand.The shown data are an excerpt of Statista's Key Market Indicators (KMI). The KMI are a collection of primary and secondary indicators on the macro-economic, demographic and technological environment in up to 150 countries and regions worldwide. All indicators are sourced from international and national statistical offices, trade associations and the trade press and they are processed to generate comparable data sets (see supplementary notes under details for more information).Find more key insights for the absolute economic contribution of tourism in countries like Lithuania and Estonia.

In 2022, the tourism sector in Indonesia contributed about 729 trillion Indonesian rupiah to the country's GDP, which reflects a sharp increase from the previous year's contribution. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic's adverse effect on the nation's tourism industry, the continued decline from 2019 to 2021 was anticipated. As of March 2022, Indonesia has removed all quarantine measures for international visitors, two years after it implemented border restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the archipelago.

The share of the tourism sector in the Mexican gross domestic product decreased to *** percent in 2023, reversing the two-year increase recorded previously. In total, this sector contributed roughly *** trillion Mexican pesos to the country's GDP in that year.

In 2023, the contribution of the tourism industry to the gross domestic product (GDP) in Japan amounted to **** trillion Japanese yen. The tourism-generated contribution to the GDP has recovered from the slump induced by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The total contribution of travel and tourism to Denmark's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2023 amounted to over 180 billion Danish kroner, which was an increase from 2021 with 65.6 billion. It was also an increase from the pre-pandemic period.

In 2019, the direct contribution of the travel and tourism sector to employment in the whole Caribbean region increased *** percent in relation to the previous year. Nevertheless, the growth rates among the Caribbean islands registered major differences. For instance, Dominica saw a growth in tourism contribution to employment of over ** percent. Anguilla and St. Kitts and Nevis also had positive double-digit growths that year. On the contrary, the direct contribution of the travel and tourism sector to the employment in Grenada decreased more than ** percent. Haiti and Cuba recorded negative growths too.

This statistic describes the direct contribution from tourism and travel to employment in Iran from 2012 to 2017, with an estimate for 2018 and a forecast for 2028. According to forecasts, the direct contribution of tourism and travel to employment in Iran will be around 663.1 thousand jobs by 2028.

In Caribbean region, the travel and tourism sector contributed more than 60 billion U.S. dollars to the gross domestic product in 2022. Among all listed Caribbean territories, the Dominican Republic and Cuba registered the highest total contributions of this sector to the GDP.

This statistic describes the total economic contribution of tourism and travel to the GDP of the Gulf Cooperation Council from 2012 to 2017, with an estimate for 2018 and a forecast for 2027. According to forecasts, the total economic contribution of tourism and travel to the GDP of the GCC in 2027 will be 318.6 billion U.S. dollars.

The direct contribution of the travel and tourism industry to employment in Italy rose gradually from 2010 to 2019. In 2010, this industry directly generated about 1.5 million jobs in Italy. In 2019, the number of jobs directly contributed by travel and tourism peaked at roughly 1.7 million.