Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan: International tourism, receipts for travel items (current US$)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2019, Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan's international tourism, receipts for travel items (current US$) rose 10.9% on 2018 (from US$111.82 billion to US$124.02 billion).

Across the 19 yearly changes before that (2000 to 2018), the average change was +6.5% and a typical year strayed about 9% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.5 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 20.4% in 2007 and the biggest yearly fall was 13.4% in 2011. 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$4.37 billion a year. A straight line explains 70% 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.

How it compares

See how every economy compares in the full ranking.

What this measures

International tourism receipts for travel items are expenditures by international inbound visitors in the reporting economy. 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 receipts should include any other prepayment made for goods or services received in the destination country. They also may include receipts from 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 21 values

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

• Afghanistan — US$65 million (2020)
• Algeria — US$43 million (2020)
• Bahrain — US$673 million (2020)
• Djibouti — US$29.7 million (2020)
• Egypt, Arab Rep. — US$4.4 billion (2020)
• Iran, Islamic Rep. — US$5.02 billion (2018)
• Iraq — US$955 million (2020)
• Israel — US$2.5 billion (2020)
• Jordan

More private sector & trade data for Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan

• Merchandise trade (% of GDP) — 47.17% (2025)
• Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$1.7 trillion (2025)
• Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$1.79 trillion (2025)
• Merchandise imports from economies in the Arab World (% of total merchandise imports) — 13.82% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports) — 53.15% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies outside region (% of total merchandise imports) — 43.62% (2023)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

What is Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan's international tourism, receipts for travel items (current US$)?

US$124.02 billion in 2019, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1999?

It is up 242.87% from US$36.17 billion in 1999 (6.35% a year on average, compounded). The highest value was US$124.02 billion in 2019 and the lowest US$34.56 billion in 2001.

Is the latest change in international tourism, receipts for travel items (current US$) unusual for Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan?

In 2019, Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan's international tourism, receipts for travel items (current US$) rose 10.9% on 2018 (from US$111.82 billion to US$124.02 billion). Across the 19 yearly changes before that (2000 to 2018), the average change was +6.5% and a typical year strayed about 9% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.5 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.TVLR.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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