Guinea-Bissau: International tourism, expenditures (current US$)

Key figures

Since 1995 it is up 1,433% from US$5.8 million in 1995 (12.05% a year on average, compounded). The World Bank has no value for 8 of the years in between; the chart leaves those gaps open rather than joining across them.

What the numbers say

In 2019, Guinea-Bissau's international tourism, expenditures (current US$) rose 19.2% on 2018 (from US$74.6 million to US$88.9 million).

Across the 13 yearly changes before that (1996 to 2018), the average change was +18.4% and a typical year strayed about 55.6% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.0 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 128.7% in 2007 and the biggest yearly fall was 43.6% in 2009. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

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

How it compares

In 2019, Guinea-Bissau had the 10th highest value of the 13 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.

Closest to Guinea-Bissau in the 2019 ranking

• Burkina Faso — 7th of 13: US$185.2 million
• Niger — 8th of 13: US$144.5 million
• Benin — 9th of 13: US$130 million
• Sierra Leone — 11th of 13: US$83 million
• Togo — 12th of 13: US$61 million
• Tuvalu — 13th of 13: US$9.8 million

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. Data are in current U.S. dollars.

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 gap-filled total.

All 17 values

International tourism, expenditures (current US$) in nearby economies

• Angola — US$691 million (2020)
• Benin — US$130 million (2019)
• Botswana — US$91.8 million (2020)
• Burkina Faso — US$185.2 million (2019)
• Cabo Verde — US$59 million (2020)
• Cameroon — US$697 million (2020)
• Comoros — US$43 million (2020)
• Congo, Dem. Rep. — US$115 million (2018)
• Congo, Rep. — US$457 million (2016)
• Côte d'Ivoire

More private sector & trade data for Guinea-Bissau

• Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$489 million (2025)
• Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$313 million (2025)
• Merchandise trade (% of GDP) — 31.73% (2025)
• Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports) — 37.3% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies in Sub-Saharan Africa (% of total merchandise imports) — 44.49% (2023)
• Merchandise imports by the reporting economy, residual (% of total merchandise imports) — 0.00341% (2023)
• Merchandise imports by the reporting economy (current US$) — US$322.03 million (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies within region (% 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
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Questions people ask

What is Guinea-Bissau's international tourism, expenditures (current US$)?

US$88.9 million in 2019, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1995?

It is up 1,433% from US$5.8 million in 1995 (12.05% a year on average, compounded). The highest value was US$88.9 million in 2019 and the lowest US$3.5 million in 1997.

How does Guinea-Bissau rank?

10th highest of 13 economies with data for 2019.

Is the latest change in international tourism, expenditures (current US$) unusual for Guinea-Bissau?

In 2019, Guinea-Bissau's international tourism, expenditures (current US$) rose 19.2% on 2018 (from US$74.6 million to US$88.9 million). Across the 13 yearly changes before that (1996 to 2018), the average change was +18.4% and a typical year strayed about 55.6% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.0 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator ST.INT.XPND.CD, 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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