The tourism sector GDP share in Tunisia was forecast to continuously increase between 2023 and 2028 by in total 4.8 percentage points. The share is estimated to amount to 16.8 percent in 2028. While the share was forecast to increase significant in the next years, the increase will slow down in the future.Depited is the economic contribution of the tourism sector in relation to the gross domestic product of the country or region at hand.The forecast has been adjusted for the expected impact of COVID-19.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 more than 150 countries and regions worldwide. All input data are sourced from international institutions, national statistical offices, and trade associations. All data has been are processed to generate comparable datasets (see supplementary notes under details for more information).Find more key insights for the tourism sector GDP share in countries like Morocco and the Sudan.

Tunisia: International tourism revenue, percent of GDP: The latest value from 2020 is 2.37 percent, a decline from 6.4 percent in 2019. In comparison, the world average is 3.34 percent, based on data from 125 countries. Historically, the average for Tunisia from 1995 to 2020 is 7.25 percent. The minimum value, 2.37 percent, was reached in 2020 while the maximum of 10.19 percent was recorded in 1995.

In 2021, the tourism sector directly contributed *** billion Tunisian dinars (around *** million U.S. dollars) to Tunisia's GDP. The direct contribution value increased compared to the previous year, when the COVID-19 pandemic had negatively impacted the tourism industry. In the period under review, the value peaked at approximately *** billion Tunisian dinars (*** billion U.S. dollars) in 2019.

In 2021, the direct contribution of the tourism sector to Tunisia's GDP increased by ** percent compared to the previous year. The tourism industry showed signs of recovery after the strong impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. In that year, the direct contribution of the tourism sector had decreased by around ** percent compared to 2019.

In 2021, direct employment in the tourism industry in Tunisia accounted for *** percent of the country's GDP. The direct employment contribution of the tourism sector as a share of GDP increased compared to the previous year, when it stood at *** percent. The decline in 2020 was due to the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

In the first quarter of 2024, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Tunisia increased by 0.2 percent compared to the same quarter of 2023. Moreover, it rose by 0.6 percent compared to the previous quarter. Following the economic impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, the GDP decreased by -1 percent in the first quarter of 2021, compared to the previous year. Economic recovery after COVID-19 As of the first quarter of 2024, Tunisia’s GDP experienced a growth rate of 0.2 percent, recovering from the decline in the two previous quarters. However, in 2020, the Tunisian GDP growth rate assumed a negative value for the first time since 2012. Previously, negative growth had been recorded in 2011 concurrently with the Jasmine Revolution. The economy then gradually recovered after 2020, with the GDP expanding by 4.61 percent in 2021 and 0.42 percent in 2023. After declining in 2020, the GDP per capita was also set to grow again to reach around 4,416 U.S. dollars by 2027. Overall, Tunisia is a small economy and ranks among the countries with the lowest GDP per capita in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Compared to other countries in the region, its territory is not particularly rich in oil and gas. Its industries mainly operate in textiles, mining and phosphates, and agri-food. Main sectors to drive economic growth The economy of Tunisia is largely based on the tertiary sector, with services contributing around 60 percent to the GDP. Within this sector, the tourism industry is particularly profitable. Tourists are especially attracted by the country’s seaside resorts, as well as the suggestive landscapes of the Sahara Desert. The global tourism industry was hit hard by the COVID-19 crisis and Tunisia registered a significant fall in the annual number of tourists in 2020, however, the sector managed to recover, with 6.89 million arrivals in 2023. Agriculture represents another significant driver of economic growth, accounting for around 10 percent of the country’s GDP and employing roughly 14 percent of the working population. Cereals lead the domestic agricultural production, while olive oil, dates, and fish represent the main exports.

In 2021, the number of tourists in South Africa amounted to 2.3 million. This was a drop compared to 2020, when the number of overnight arrivals in the country amounted to 2.8 million. Between 2012 and 2019, the number of tourist arrivals in the country increased yearly, except for slight drops in 2015 and 2019. However, international overnight arrivals dropped noticeably in 2020 and 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

 South Africa tourist arrivals

South Africa came second in a ranking of the leading African countries in terms of international tourist arrivals in 2021. It only had around 220,000 fewer international arrivals than the most visited country, Tunisia. The tourism industry is one of the key industries in South Africa attracting visitors from all over the world. In 2021, the largest number of visitors to South Africa from a non-African country came from the United States of America (USA) with 82,020 visitors.

 Lower contribution of the tourism sector to the economy

The contribution of the travel and tourism sector reached 3.2 percent of the South African GDP in 2021. This was a drop compared to 2019 pre-pandemic (COVID-19) levels from 6.4 percent of the GDP. As a result, the contribution of travel and tourism to employment in the sector dropped. In 2021, the industry provided almost 1.1 million jobs, this was over 1.5 million jobs in 2019.