North America: International tourism, receipts (% of total exports)

Key figures

Over five years it is up 0.07 percentage points from 9.33% in 2014. Since 1995 it is down 0.77 percentage points from 10.16% in 1995.

What the numbers say

In 2019, North America's international tourism, receipts (% of total exports) fell 0.14 percentage points on 2018 (from 9.53% to 9.39%).

Across the 23 yearly changes before that (1996 to 2018), the average change was −0.03 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 0.47 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.2 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 1.29 percentage points in 2012 and the biggest yearly fall was 0.66 percentage points in 2003. 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 0.24 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 58% 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 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 25 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 — 27% (2020)
• Morocco — 12.02% (2020)
• Oman — 1.87% (2020)
• Pakistan — 2.8% (2020)
• Qatar — 20.19% (2020)
• Saudi Arabia — 3.22% (2020)

More private sector & trade data for North America

• Merchandise trade (% of GDP) — 20.62% (2025)
• Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$4.09 trillion (2025)
• Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$2.74 trillion (2025)
• Merchandise imports from economies in the Arab World (% of total merchandise imports) — 1.52% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports) — 55.59% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies outside region (% of total merchandise imports) — 44.31% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies in East Asia & Pacific (% of total merchandise imports) — 21.52% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies in Europe & Central Asia (% of total merchandise imports) — 0.66% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies in Latin America & the Caribbean (% of total merchandise imports) — 17.57% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies in Middle East & North Africa (% of total merchandise imports) — 0.63% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies in South Asia (% of total merchandise imports) — 2.96% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies in Sub-Saharan Africa (% of total merchandise imports) — 0.97% (2023)
• Merchandise imports by the reporting economy, residual (% of total merchandise imports) — 0.1% (2023)
• Merchandise imports by the reporting economy (current US$) — US$3.67 trillion (2023)
• Merchandise exports to economies in the Arab World (% of total merchandise exports) — 2.77% (2023)

Every indicator for North America is on the North America data page.

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Questions people ask

What is North America's international tourism, receipts (% of total exports)?

9.39% in 2019, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1995?

It is down 0.77 percentage points from 10.16% in 1995. The highest value was 10.35% in 1996 and the lowest 7.02% in 2008.

Is the latest change in international tourism, receipts (% of total exports) unusual for North America?

In 2019, North America's international tourism, receipts (% of total exports) fell 0.14 percentage points on 2018 (from 9.53% to 9.39%). Across the 23 yearly changes before that (1996 to 2018), the average change was −0.03 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 0.47 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.2 standard deviations below that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

Where does this data come from?

The World Bank's World Development Indicators, 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).

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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