Least developed countries: UN classification: International tourism, receipts (% of total exports)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2019, Least developed countries: UN classification's international tourism, receipts (% of total exports) rose 1.58 percentage points on 2018 (from 9.79% to 11.37%).

Across the 22 yearly changes before that (1997 to 2018), the average change was +0.01 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 1.05 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.5 standard deviations above 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 2.04 percentage points in 2001 and the biggest yearly fall was 2.3 percentage points in 2000. 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 0.51 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 88% 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 12.31% 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 0.46%, against 0.73% 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 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. Their share in exports is calculated as a ratio to exports 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 residents to nonresidents 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. 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 weighted average.

All 24 values

International tourism, receipts (% of total exports) in nearby economies

• Afghanistan — 5.08% (2020)
• Algeria — 0.2% (2020)
• Bahrain — 2.82% (2020)
• Djibouti — 1.25% (2018)
• Egypt, Arab Rep. — 12.15% (2020)
• Iraq — 1.88% (2020)
• Israel — 2.39% (2020)
• Jordan — 16.71% (2020)
• Kuwait — 1.11% (2020)
• Lebanon

More private sector & trade data for Least developed countries: UN classification

• Merchandise trade (% of GDP) — 41.35% (2025)
• Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$376.94 billion (2025)
• Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$311.48 billion (2025)
• Merchandise imports from economies in the Arab World (% of total merchandise imports) — 12.48% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports) — 36.85% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies outside region (% of total merchandise imports) — 35.71% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies in East Asia & Pacific (% 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
• 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 Least developed countries: UN classification's international tourism, receipts (% of total exports)?

11.37% in 2019, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1996?

It is up 1.87 percentage points from 9.5% in 1996. The highest value was 11.37% in 2019 and the lowest 6.23% in 2008.

Source

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