Kenya's international tourism, expenditures for travel items (current US$) was US$196 million in 2019, the latest year in the World Bank's World Development Indicators. That is down 13.66% from US$227 million in 2009 (1.46% a year on average, compounded).
Key figures
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Latest | US$196 million | 2019 |
| Five years earlier | US$206 million | 2014 |
| Ten years earlier | US$227 million | 2009 |
| Highest | US$266 million | 2008 |
| Lowest | US$108 million | 2004 |
| Average since 2010 | US$207.1 million | 2010–2019 |
| First recorded | US$192 million |
What the numbers say
In 2019, Kenya's international tourism, expenditures for travel items (current US$) fell 14.4% on 2018 (from US$229 million to US$196 million).
Across the 23 yearly changes before that (1996 to 2018), the average change was +3.6% and a typical year strayed about 26.6% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.7 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 80.7% in 2017 and the biggest yearly fall was 33.2% 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 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains 2% of the movement over 10 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
In 2019, Kenya had the 4th 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.
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Kenya | US$196 million | 2019 |
| World | US$1.4 trillion | 2019 |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | US$26.04 billion | 2019 |
| Lower middle income | US$117.55 billion | 2019 |
Closest to Kenya in the 2019 ranking
What this measures
International tourism expenditures are expenditures of international outbound visitors in other countries. The goods and services are purchased by, or on behalf of, the traveler or provided, without a quid pro quo, for the traveler to use or give away. These may include expenditures by residents traveling abroad as same-day visitors, except in cases where these are so important as to justify a separate classification. Excluded is the international carriage of travelers, which is covered in passenger travel items. Data are in current U.S. dollars.
Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a gap-filled total.
All 25 values
| Year | International tourism, expenditures for travel items (current US$) |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 196,000,000 |
| 2018 | 229,000,000 |
| 2017 | 262,000,000 |
| 2016 | 145,000,000 |
| 2015 | 217,000,000 |
| 2014 | 206,000,000 |
| 2013 | 233,000,000 |
| 2012 | 174,000,000 |
| 2011 | 197,000,000 |
| 2010 | 212,000,000 |
International tourism, expenditures for travel items (current US$) in nearby economies
- Angola — US$615 million (2020)
- Benin — US$94 million (2019)
- Botswana — US$89 million (2020)
- Burkina Faso — US$114.6 million (2019)
- Burundi — US$23 million (2018)
- Cabo Verde — US$52 million (2020)
- Cameroon — US$553 million (2020)
- Comoros — US$31 million (2020)
- Congo, Dem. Rep.
More private sector & trade data for Kenya
- Merchandise trade (% of GDP) — 22.23% (2025)
- Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$21.61 billion (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$8.6 billion (2025)
- Merchandise imports from economies in the Arab World (% of total merchandise imports) — 25.82% (2023)
- Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports) — 49.35% (2023)
- Merchandise imports by the reporting economy, residual (% of total merchandise imports) — 0.0000627% (2023)
- Merchandise imports by the reporting economy (current US$) — US$18.59 billion (2023)
- Merchandise exports to economies in the Arab World (% of total merchandise exports) — 16.16% (2023)
Reading data like this
Questions people ask
- What is Kenya's international tourism, expenditures for travel items (current US$)?
- US$196 million in 2019, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).
- How has it changed since 1995?
- It is up 2.08% from US$192 million in 1995 (0.09% a year on average, compounded). The highest value was US$266 million in 2008 and the lowest US$108 million in 2004.
- How does Kenya rank?
- 4th highest of 13 economies with data for 2019.
- Is the latest change in international tourism, expenditures for travel items (current US$) unusual for Kenya?
- In 2019, Kenya's international tourism, expenditures for travel items (current US$) fell 14.4% on 2018 (from US$229 million to US$196 million). Across the 23 yearly changes before that (1996 to 2018), the average change was +3.6% and a typical year strayed about 26.6% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.7 standard deviations below 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.TVLX.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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