In 2023, the total contribution of travel and tourism to the global gross domestic product (GDP) was roughly four percent lower than in 2019, the year before the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, the contribution of travel and tourism to the global GDP amounted to 9.9 trillion U.S. dollars in 2023. This figure was predicted to reach an estimated 11.1 trillion U.S. dollars in 2024, exceeding pre-pandemic levels. 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, the United Kingdom, and Japan. What are the most visited countries in the world? In 2023, the number of international tourist arrivals worldwide increased significantly over the previous year but did not catch up yet with pre-pandemic levels. That year, France was the country with the highest number of international tourist arrivals worldwide, welcoming 100 million international visitors. Spain and the United States followed in the ranking in 2023.

In 2023, the United States was the country worldwide with the highest total contribution of travel and tourism to GDP. That year, the total GDP contribution of travel and tourism in the U.S. amounted to 2.36 trillion U.S. dollars, exceeding pre-pandemic levels. China and Germany followed in the ranking in 2023, with travel and tourism's total contributions to GDP of around 1.3 trillion and 488 billion U.S. dollars, respectively. Overall, the total contribution of travel and tourism to GDP worldwide reached almost 10 trillion U.S. dollars in 2023. What are the most visited countries worldwide? While the U.S. and China reported the highest figures in terms of travel and tourism contribution to GDP in 2023, it was a European destination that led the ranking of countries with the highest number of inbound tourist arrivals worldwide. With 100 million international arrivals in 2023, France was the most visited travel destination in the world that year, ahead of Spain, the United States, and Italy. How many people work in the global travel and tourism sector? After declining sharply due to the impact of COVID-19, the number of travel and tourism jobs worldwide bounced back in 2023, reaching around 330 million, nearly catching up with pre-pandemic levels. That year, China and India were the countries with the highest travel and tourism employment worldwide.

In 2019, Macau generated the highest share of GDP through direct travel and tourism of any other economy worldwide, with over half its GDP coming from this sector. Macau is a city and a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China - its economy is largely based on casino gaming and tourism. The nation with the second highest share of GDP generated by direct travel and tourism was the Maldives. The country began to develop its travel and tourism industry in 1970s and now over 30 percent of GDP is coming from this sector in 2019.

What is 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 the economic strength of a country and a positive change is an indicator of economic growth.

What is direct contribution to GDP? The direct contribution of travel and tourism to GDP reflects the ‘internal’ spending on travel and tourism (total spending within a particular country on travel and tourism by residents and non-residents for business and leisure purposes) as well as government 'individual' spending - spending by government on travel and tourism services directly linked to visitors, such as cultural (e.g. museums) or recreational (e.g. national parks).

Contributing a staggering 1.3 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 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.

The United States' travel and tourism industry directly contributed the largest amount to gross domestic profit (GDP) out of any country worldwide with a total contribution of 580.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2019. Comparatively, the ever-growing travel and tourism industry in China directly contributed the second largest sum to GDP. Meanwhile, Europe was home to half of the top 10 countries with the highest direct contribution to GDP globally (through travel and tourism).

What is 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 the economic strength of a country and a positive change is an indicator of economic growth.

In 2023, travel and tourism in the country generated, directly and indirectly, 131.4 billion U.S. dollars. The estimated contribution of the travel and tourism industry to GDP is 135.5 U.S. dollars in 2024. It is forecast for the contribution of travel and tourism to Turkey's GDP to rise even more by 2034.

This statistic describes the total contribution of travel and tourism to gross domestic product (GDP) across the Middle East from 2012 to 2017, with an estimate for 2018 and a forecast for 2028. According to forecasts, the total contribution of travel and tourism to the GDP of Middle Eastern countries will amount to around 486.1 billion U.S. dollars by 2028.

In 2023, the share of travel and tourism's total contribution to Italy's gross domestic product (GDP) nearly equaled the figure reported in 2019, the year before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, travel and tourism generated, directly and indirectly, roughly 10.5 percent of the country's GDP in 2023. That year, the total contribution of travel and tourism to GDP in Italy amounted to nearly 215 billion euros. What is the contribution of travel and tourism to employment in Italy? In 2023, the total contribution of travel and tourism to employment in Italy recovered from the impact of the health crisis. Overall, these industries generated, directly and indirectly, just under three million jobs in 2023, denoting a four percent increase from 2019. What are the leading inbound tourism markets in Italy? In 2023, the total international tourist expenditure in Italy, including overnight and same-day visitors, surpassed 50 billion euros, the highest figure reported to date. When breaking down the inbound tourism expenditure in Italy by country, Germany ranked as the leading market, ahead of the United States, the United Kingdom, and France.

In 2022, Bahrain's travel and tourism industry had the highest contribution to its gross domestic product (GDP) among the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries at about 12 percent. The average contribution of travel and tourism to GDP in the GCC region was 8.3 percent in that year.

In 2023, the total contribution of travel and tourism to Germany's gross domestic product (GDP) nearly recovered from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, being around 2.9 percent lower than in 2019. Overall, the total contribution of these industries to the country's GDP amounted to just over 453 billion euros in 2023. This figure was expected to reach an estimated 468.7 billion euros in 2024.

In the financial year 2024, foreign visitor spending contributed around 15 percent to the travel and tourism gross domestic product (GDP) in India. Whereas, domestic spending contributed about 85 percent to India's travel and tourism GDP.

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.

The forecast for the direct contribution of travel and tourism to global GDP in 2029 is a little under 5,563 trillion U.S. dollars. In contrast, the total contribution to GDP worldwide is predicted to reach 18,031 billion U.S. dollars in 2029.

Portugal experienced a recovery of over 30 percent in the total travel and tourism contribution to its gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021, after a strong drop due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Prior to this crisis, this sector represented over 40 billion U.S. dollars of the Portuguese economy. By 2024, more than 58 billion U.S. dollars were forecasted as contribution to the country's GDP. Tourism spending in Portugal In 2023, Portugal's tourism services generated a sales revenue close to 38.9 billion euros, signalizing the post-pandemic recovery for this sector, which began in the previous year. Furthermore, inbound tourism expenditures in the Iberian country for the same year reached 25 billion euros, representing an increase from the previous year. How many travelers make their way to Portugal each year? From 2022 to 2024, Portugal witnessed a remarkable increase in the number of international overnight visitors, with the figure reaching 56 million in the latter year – more than in 2019. The recovery of the Portuguese tourism sector from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic can also be seen in monthly development. While in 2020 and 2021, the usual influx of foreign guests in Portuguese accommodation establishments during the summer season was affected by the global health crisis, the country saw a return to normality in 2022, with August reaching the annual peak of 1.96 million travelers, which rose to 2.27 million by 2024.

This statistic shows the contribution of travel and tourism to GDP in the United States from 2013 to 2017, by type. Travel and tourism directly contributed approximately 509 billion U.S. dollars to the U.S. economy in 2017.

According to a study by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), Paris was the city with the highest direct travel and tourism contribution to GDP in 2022. That year, the direct travel and tourism GDP in the capital of France - the country with the highest number of international tourist arrivals worldwide - amounted to roughly 35.65 billion U.S. dollars. Meanwhile, Beijing and Orlando followed on the ranking in 2022, with a direct travel and tourism GDP of around 32.6 billion and 31.1 billion U.S. dollars, respectively.

In 2023, travel and tourism contributed 6.8 percent to Africa's gross domestic product (GDP), up from 5.9 percent in the previous year. During the period in review, 2019 recorded the highest contribution, seven percent. Furthermore, travel and tourism was estimated to contribute to 7.3 percent of the continent's GDP in 2024.

The value of goods and services offered by the tourism sector in Spain increased by more than ** percent in 2024, surpassing *** billion euros. In 2025, the tourism GDP in the Iberian country could grow by ***** percent. Holidaymakers in Spain France was the leading source country for inbound tourism in Spain in 2020. Although British tourists in Spain have traditionally been the largest visitor group in the Mediterranean country, the number of travelers from Britain declined by almost ** million in 2020, most likely due to difficulties created as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Notably, the share of domestic tourist expenditure was higher than the share of international tourist expenditure in the country in 2020, which was different from the share of tourism expenditure in Spain prior to COVID-19. COVID-19 impact on the Spanish tourism industry As of December 2021, the travel and tourism sector in Spain was still recovering from the economy-wide disruptions caused by the global health crisis. The monthly growth rate of tourism GDP in Spain was lower in every month of 2020 and 2021 compared to the same month in 2019. Additionally, businesses within the sector reported lower revenues since the beginning of the pandemic, with negative earnings growth rates in Spanish tourism companies in 2020 and 2021 compared to reported earnings in 2019.

This statistic shows the distribution of direct contribution of travel and tourism to GDP in the United States from 2013 to 2017, by visitor origin. Domestic travel spending contributed 80 percent of direct travel and tourism GDP in the United States in 2017.