IDA only: International tourism, expenditures (current US$)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2019, IDA only's international tourism, expenditures (current US$) rose 3.9% on 2018 (from US$16.44 billion to US$17.08 billion).

Across the 22 yearly changes before that (1997 to 2018), the average change was +7% and a typical year strayed about 7.6% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.4 standard deviations below 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 24% in 2006 and the biggest yearly fall was 7.5% 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 2010 to 2019 the straight-line trend is upward, about US$393.08 million a year. A straight line explains 84% 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 US$17.84 billion 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 US$470.31 million, against US$1.9 billion 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 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 24 values

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

• Afghanistan — US$49 million (2020)
• Algeria — US$272 million (2020)
• Bahrain — US$2.64 billion (2019)
• Egypt, Arab Rep. — US$2.58 billion (2020)
• Iran, Islamic Rep. — US$9.27 billion (2018)
• Iraq — US$4.17 billion (2020)
• Israel — US$2.18 billion (2020)
• Jordan — US$408 million (2020)
• Kuwait — US$6.7 billion (2020)
• Lebanon

More private sector & trade data for IDA only

• Merchandise trade (% of GDP) — 44.28% (2025)
• Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$484 billion (2025)
• Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$374.95 billion (2025)
• Merchandise imports from economies in the Arab World (% of total merchandise imports) — 10.58% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports) — 40.04% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies outside region (% of total merchandise imports) — 32.56% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies in East Asia & Pacific (% of total merchandise imports) — 30.7% (2023)

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 IDA only's international tourism, expenditures (current US$)?

US$17.08 billion in 2019, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1996?

It is up 334.2% from US$3.93 billion in 1996 (6.59% a year on average, compounded). The highest value was US$17.08 billion in 2019 and the lowest US$3.93 billion in 1996.

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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