Pacific island small states: International tourism, expenditures (current US$)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2018, Pacific island small states' international tourism, expenditures (current US$) rose 3.2% on 2017 (from US$380.11 million to US$392.45 million).

Across the 18 yearly changes before that (2000 to 2017), the average change was +5.8% and a typical year strayed about 9.8% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.3 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 29.2% in 2004 and the biggest yearly fall was 8.7% in 2001. 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$7.29 million a year. A straight line explains 60% 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 expenditures are expenditures of international outbound visitors in other countries, including payments to foreign carriers for international transport. These expenditures may include those by residents traveling abroad as same-day visitors, except in cases where these are important enough to justify separate classification. For some countries they do not include expenditures 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. Expenditure associated with the activity of international visitors has been traditionally identified with the travel item of the Balance of Payments (BOP).

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a gap-filled total.

All 20 values

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

• Afghanistan — US$49 million (2020)
• Algeria — US$272 million (2020)
• Bahrain — US$2.64 billion (2019)
• Egypt, Arab Rep. — US$2.58 billion (2020)
• Iran, Islamic Rep. — US$9.27 billion (2018)
• Iraq — US$4.17 billion (2020)
• Israel — US$2.18 billion (2020)
• Jordan — US$408 million (2020)
• Kuwait — US$6.7 billion (2020)
• Lebanon

More private sector & trade data for Pacific island small states

• Merchandise trade (% of GDP) — 66.16% (2025)
• Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$6.45 billion (2025)
• Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$2.15 billion (2025)
• Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports) — 75.14% (2023)
• Merchandise imports by the reporting economy, residual (% of total merchandise imports) — 0.000000000000000234% (2023)
• Merchandise imports by the reporting economy (current US$) — US$25.44 billion (2023)
• Merchandise exports to high-income economies (% of total merchandise exports) — 53.25% (2023)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

What is Pacific island small states's international tourism, expenditures (current US$)?

US$392.45 million in 2018, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1999?

It is up 166.43% from US$147.3 million in 1999 (5.29% a year on average, compounded). The highest value was US$392.45 million in 2018 and the lowest US$147.3 million in 1999.

Is the latest change in international tourism, expenditures (current US$) unusual for Pacific island small states?

In 2018, Pacific island small states' international tourism, expenditures (current US$) rose 3.2% on 2017 (from US$380.11 million to US$392.45 million). Across the 18 yearly changes before that (2000 to 2017), the average change was +5.8% and a typical year strayed about 9.8% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.3 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.XPND.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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