Iran, Islamic Rep.: International tourism, receipts (current US$)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2018, Iran, Islamic Rep.'s international tourism, receipts (current US$) rose 15.9% on 2017 (from US$4.53 billion to US$5.25 billion).

Across the 22 yearly changes before that (1996 to 2017), the average change was +22.5% and a typical year strayed about 55.3% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.1 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 245.3% in 1998 and the biggest yearly fall was 30.7% in 1996. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2009 to 2018 the straight-line trend is upward, about US$355.86 million a year. A straight line explains 90% 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$6.12 billion for 2021. We show this only because the same method, fitted on earlier years, predicted 2016 to 2018 better than "no change" would have: its average miss was US$177.97 million, against US$286 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

In 2018, Iran, Islamic Rep. had the 5th highest value of the 23 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 Iran, Islamic Rep. in the 2018 ranking

• New Zealand — 2nd of 23: US$10.96 billion
• Denmark — 3rd of 23: US$9.1 billion
• Dominican Republic — 4th of 23: US$7.56 billion
• Sudan — 6th of 23: US$1.04 billion
• St. Lucia — 7th of 23: US$989 million
• Haiti — 8th of 23: US$620 million

What this measures

International tourism receipts are expenditures by international inbound visitors, including payments to national carriers for international transport. These receipts include any other prepayment made for goods or services received in the destination country. They also may include receipts from same-day visitors, except when these are important enough to justify separate classification. For some countries they do not include receipts 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. 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 24 values

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

• Afghanistan — US$75 million (2020)
• Algeria — US$50 million (2020)
• Bahrain — US$724 million (2020)
• Djibouti — US$57 million (2018)
• Egypt, Arab Rep. — US$4.87 billion (2020)
• Iraq — US$955 million (2020)
• Israel — US$2.66 billion (2020)
• Jordan — US$1.75 billion (2020)
• Kuwait — US$524 million (2020)
• Lebanon — US$2.37 billion (2020)

More private sector & trade data for Iran, Islamic Rep.

• Merchandise trade (% of GDP) — 49.32% (2025)
• Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$65.63 billion (2025)
• Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$113.23 billion (2025)
• Merchandise imports from economies in the Arab World (% of total merchandise imports) — 30.34% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports) — 50.61% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies outside region (% of total merchandise imports) — 48.54% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies in South Asia (% of total merchandise imports) — 3.32% (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 Iran, Islamic Rep.'s international tourism, receipts (current US$)?

US$5.25 billion in 2018, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1995?

It is up 2,462% from US$205 million in 1995 (15.14% a year on average, compounded). The highest value was US$5.25 billion in 2018 and the lowest US$142 million in 1996.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator ST.INT.RCPT.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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