In 2024, the share of travel and tourism's total contribution to global gross domestic product (GDP) showed a decline of *** percentage points compared to 2019. Overall, the travel and tourism market represented ** percent of the global GDP in 2024. That year, the total contribution of travel and tourism to the global GDP amounted to almost ** trillion U.S. dollars. What is the contribution of travel and tourism to employment? In 2024, the total number of travel and tourism jobs worldwide exceeded pre-pandemic levels, with global travel and tourism employment surpassing *** million. This figure, which refers to jobs generated directly and indirectly by the travel and tourism sector, was forecast to grow further in 2025. How many people travel every year? After sinking in 2020 to the lowest point recorded since 1989, the number of international tourist arrivals worldwide caught up with pre-pandemic levels in 2024, reaching almost *** billion. Both before and after the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Europe was the global region with the highest number of international tourist arrivals.

This statistic shows the market size of the global travel industry in 2019, by region. The EMEA region held the largest share of the travel industry worldwide, with a market size of *** billion U.S. dollars. The region with the smallest travel industry was Latin America, with a market size of ** billion U.S. dollars.

The travel and tourism industry was estimated to directly and indirectly contribute nearly 3.6 million jobs to employment in Russia in 2024. Over the following decade, it was forecast that the travel and tourism sector would provide an additional 1.09 million jobs to the Russian economy.

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.

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.

Food and beverage serving activities recorded the highest number of employees in the tourism industries in the United Kingdom (UK). As estimated, employment in this segment reached about *** million. Sports and recreation activities reported the second-highest figure, with an estimated employment of roughly *** thousand.

In 2023, the travel and tourism industry in the United States contributed roughly 18.03 million jobs to the U.S. economy. This figure saw growth over the pre-pandemic levels of 2019 when the travel and tourism sector contributed around 17.4 million jobs to the North American country's economy.

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).

In financial year 2019, the tourism industry of India contributed to nearly 13 percent of the total employment of the country. Thereby, the share in employment slightly increased compared to the previous year. In comparison to financial year 2014, the share increased by more than one percent. In total, nearly 90 million people had been employed in the tourism industry in 2019. The share of indirectly employed people in the industry is higher than the share of directly employed people.

In 2023, the total contribution of travel and tourism to employment in Belgium exceeded the figure from 2019, the year before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, these industries generated, directly and indirectly, around *** thousand jobs in 2023. The total number of jobs is expected to reach an estimated ***** thousand in 2024.

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 total contribution of travel and tourism to employment in Norway in 2023 amounted to approximately 307 thousand - less than in pre-pandemic levels. The full recovery was not expected to arrive in the following year either.

According to a 2023 study, topics related to arts and culture accounted for the highest share of travel and tourism comments on social media worldwide that year. This category represented ** percent of comments in 2023, while it made up ** percent of the analyzed social media content in 2019.

In 2019, outbound travel and tourism consumption in China reached 262.1 billion U.S. dollars - the highest of any country. The United States came second in the ranking with a total outbound expenditure of 184.2 billion U.S. dollars. These two countries also held the highest direct contribution to GDP in 2019.

In 2024, the total number of jobs generated, directly and indirectly, by the travel and tourism market in France reached ***** million. This figure, which represented an increase of ******* jobs over 2019, was forecast to grow to an estimated *** million in 2025. How many inbound travelers visit France every year? Both before and after the impact of the health crisis, France was the country with the highest number of inbound tourist arrivals worldwide. In 2023, France recorded around 100 million international tourist arrivals, the highest figure reported to date. That year, inbound tourism spending in France amounted to nearly 67 billion euros, exceeding pre-pandemic levels. The inbound tourism market in Paris While the French capital also experienced an annual increase in international travelers in 2023, the number of inbound tourist arrivals in Paris and the Île-de-France region was still around nine percent lower than in 2019. That said, inbound tourist arrivals in hotels in Paris surpassed the figure from 2019, peaking at over 10 million in 2023.

The Dominican Republic was the Caribbean country with the largest number of direct jobs in travel and tourism in 2019, with over 260 thousand jobs. Haiti, Cuba, and Jamaica also recorded a large number of tourism jobs that year, with over 140 thousand positions in each of those countries. That same year, Mexico was at the top of the list of direct contribution of tourism to employment in continental Latin America.

In 2021, jobs in travel and tourism made up a share of *** percent of total employment in Africa. The percentage increased compared to 2020. That year, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic disrupted the African tourism industry, and the sector's contribution to employment fell to *** percent. In 2019, previous to the health crisis, jobs in travel and tourism amounted to *** percent of the total.

In 2019, around ***** million people were directly employed in the travel and tourism sector in China, slightly decreasing from ***** million in 2018. In total, the travel and tourism sector offered nearly **** million jobs directly and indirectly in China that year.

In 2021, Cuba recorded a strong decrease in the number of international arrivals from the four major world regions for the second consecutive year. For instance, the number of foreign visitor arrivals from the Americas in Cuba that year went down by ** percent versus the previous year. Meanwhile, European arrivals in the Caribbean country decreased by **** percent in the same period.

In 2019, the revenue generated by the travel and tourism sector in Brazil amounted to 97.11 billion U.S. dollars, showing a positive growth for the second year in a row. In the past decade, however, the South American country registered the largest tourism revenue in 2014 and 2015, with over 102 billion U.S. dollars each year.