Africa Eastern and Southern: International tourism, number of arrivals

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2019, Africa Eastern and Southern's international tourism, number of arrivals fell 3.3% on 2018 (from 41.19 million to 39.83 million).

Across the 23 yearly changes before that (1996 to 2018), the average change was +5.7% and a typical year strayed about 4.1% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 2.2 standard deviations below that average, so it was unusually large compared with the rest of the record.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 13.7% in 2006 and the biggest yearly fall was 3.3% in 2019. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2010 to 2019 the straight-line trend is upward, about 1.21 million a year. A straight line explains 95% of the movement over 10 observed years.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

A straight-line projection, tested first

Extending that straight line gives about 45.79 million for 2022. We show this only because the same method, fitted on earlier years, predicted 2017 to 2019 better than "no change" would have: its average miss was 1.43 million, against 2.11 million for assuming no change. Treat it as a continuation of the recent pattern, not a forecast of events: it cannot see a recession, a policy change or a revision to the data.

See how a linear trend forecast works and the guide on forecasting without fooling yourself.

How it compares

See how every economy compares in the full ranking.

What this measures

International inbound tourists (overnight visitors) are the number of tourists who travel to a country other than that in which they have their usual residence, but outside their usual environment, for a period not exceeding 12 months and whose main purpose in visiting is other than an activity remunerated from within the country visited. When data on number of tourists are not available, the number of visitors, which includes tourists, same-day visitors, cruise passengers, and crew members, is shown instead. Sources and collection methods for arrivals differ across countries. In some cases data are from border statistics (police, immigration, and the like) and supplemented by border surveys. In other cases data are from tourism accommodation establishments. For some countries number of arrivals is limited to arrivals by air and for others to arrivals staying in hotels. Some countries include arrivals of nationals residing abroad while others do not. Caution should thus be used in comparing arrivals across countries. The data on inbound tourists refer to the number of arrivals, not to the number of people traveling. Thus a person who makes several trips to a country during a given period is counted each time as a new arrival.

Limitations: Tourism can be either domestic or international. The data refers to international tourism, where the traveler's country of residence differs from the visiting country. International tourism consists of inbound (arrival) and outbound (departures) tourism. The data are from the World Tourism Organization (WTO), a United Nations agency. The data on inbound and outbound tourists refer to the number of arrivals and departures, not to the number of people traveling. Thus a person who makes several trips to a country during a given period is counted each time as a new arrival. The data on inbound tourism show the arrivals of nonresident tourists (overnight visitors) at national borders.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a gap-filled total.

All 25 values

International tourism, number of arrivals in nearby economies

• Algeria — 591,000 (2020)
• Bahrain — 1.91 million (2020)
• Egypt, Arab Rep. — 13.03 million (2019)
• Iran, Islamic Rep. — 1.55 million (2020)
• Israel — 4.91 million (2019)
• Jordan — 1.24 million (2020)
• Kuwait — 2.16 million (2020)
• Lebanon — 1.94 million (2019)
• Malta — 718,000 (2020)
• Morocco — 2.8 million (2020)

More private sector & trade data for Africa Eastern and Southern

• Merchandise trade (% of GDP) — 45.43% (2025)
• Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$337.8 billion (2025)
• Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$282.56 billion (2025)
• Merchandise imports from economies in the Arab World (% of total merchandise imports) — 15.57% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports) — 45.38% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies outside region (% of total merchandise imports) — 37.79% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies in East Asia & Pacific (% of total merchandise imports)

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
• Data analysis examples: 6 worked from one dataset — 3 min read
• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

What is Africa Eastern and Southern's international tourism, number of arrivals?

39.83 million in 2019, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1995?

It is up 243.82% from 11.58 million in 1995 (5.28% a year on average, compounded). The highest value was 41.19 million in 2018 and the lowest 11.58 million in 1995.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator ST.INT.ARVL, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Yearbook of Tourism Statistics, Compendium of Tourism Statistics and data files, UN Tourism Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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