French Polynesia: International tourism, expenditures (% of total imports)

Key figures

Over five years it is down 1.93 percentage points from 14% in 2011. Since 2002 it is down 3.89 percentage points from 15.97% in 2002. The World Bank has no value for 2 of the years in between; the chart leaves those gaps open rather than joining across them.

What the numbers say

In 2016, French Polynesia's international tourism, expenditures (% of total imports) fell 2.33 percentage points on 2015 (from 14.41% to 12.07%).

Across the 10 yearly changes before that (2003 to 2015), the average change was +0.35 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 1.65 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.6 standard deviations below that average, so it was larger than a typical year, though not out of the range seen before.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 4.47 percentage points in 2004 and the biggest yearly fall was 2.33 percentage points in 2016. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2008 to 2016 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains 20% of the movement over 9 observed years, so the value is moving around more than it is heading anywhere.

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

How it compares

See how every economy compares in the full ranking.

Closest to French Polynesia in the 2016 ranking

• Venezuela, RB — 2nd of 5: 11.22%
• Congo, Rep. — 3rd of 5: 6.27%
• Barbados — 4th of 5: 4.42%

What this measures

International tourism expenditures are expenditures of international outbound visitors in other countries, including payments to foreign carriers for international transport. These expenditures may include those by residents traveling abroad as same-day visitors, except in cases where these are important enough to justify separate classification. For some countries they do not include expenditures for passenger transport items. Their share in imports is calculated as a ratio to imports of goods and services, which comprise all transactions between residents of a country and the rest of the world involving a change of ownership from nonresidents to residents of general merchandise, goods sent for processing and repairs, nonmonetary gold, and services.

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. Expenditure associated with the activity of international visitors has been traditionally identified with the travel item of the Balance of Payments (BOP).

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.

All 13 values

International tourism, expenditures (% of total imports) in nearby economies

• Australia — 2.96% (2020)
• Brunei Darussalam — 10.3% (2018)
• Cambodia — 0.92% (2020)
• Fiji — 3.91% (2020)
• Hong Kong SAR, China — 3.89% (2018)
• Indonesia — 1.24% (2020)
• Japan — 0.84% (2020)
• Korea, Rep. — 3.07% (2020)
• Lao PDR — 4.47% (2020)

More private sector & trade data for French Polynesia

• Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$2.45 billion (2025)
• Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$175 million (2025)
• Merchandise trade (% of GDP) — 38.74% (2024)
• Agricultural raw materials imports (% of merchandise imports) — 0.8% (2025)
• Food imports (% of merchandise imports) — 17.61% (2025)
• Fuel imports (% of merchandise imports) — 0.46% (2025)
• Manufactures imports (% of merchandise imports) — 40.39% (2025)
• Ores and metals imports (% of merchandise imports) — 0.48% (2025)
• Agricultural raw materials exports (% of merchandise exports)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

What is French Polynesia's international tourism, expenditures (% of total imports)?

12.07% in 2016, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 2002?

It is down 3.89 percentage points from 15.97% in 2002. The highest value was 20.25% in 2004 and the lowest 12.07% in 2016.

Is the latest change in international tourism, expenditures (% of total imports) unusual for French Polynesia?

In 2016, French Polynesia's international tourism, expenditures (% of total imports) fell 2.33 percentage points on 2015 (from 14.41% to 12.07%). Across the 10 yearly changes before that (2003 to 2015), the average change was +0.35 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 1.65 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.6 standard deviations below that average, so it was larger than a typical year, though not out of the range seen before.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator ST.INT.XPND.MP.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Yearbook of Tourism Statistics, Compendium of Tourism Statistics and data files, UN Tourism; IMF imports estimates, International Monetary Fund (IMF); World Bank imports estimates, World Bank (WB) 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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