Palau: International tourism, receipts (current US$)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2017, Palau's international tourism, receipts (current US$) fell 16.9% on 2016 (from US$148 million to US$123 million).

Across the 11 yearly changes before that (2006 to 2016), the average change was +8.5% and a typical year strayed about 10.1% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 2.5 standard deviations below that average, so it was unusually large compared with the rest of the record.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 23.7% in 2011 and the biggest yearly fall was 16.9% in 2017. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2008 to 2017 the straight-line trend is upward, about US$8.65 million a year. A straight line explains 79% 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. 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. 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 gap-filled total.

All 13 values

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

• Australia — US$26.23 billion (2020)
• Brunei Darussalam — US$190 million (2018)
• Cambodia — US$1.12 billion (2020)
• Fiji — US$236 million (2020)
• French Polynesia — US$782 million (2016)
• Hong Kong SAR, China — US$32.7 billion (2019)
• Indonesia — US$3.53 billion (2020)
• Japan — US$11.4 billion (2020)
• Korea, Rep. — US$11.78 billion (2020)
• Lao PDR

More private sector & trade data for Palau

• Merchandise trade (% of GDP) — 47.83% (2025)
• Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$162 million (2025)
• Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$3 million (2025)
• International tourism, number of arrivals — 18,400 (2020)
• Import unit value index (2015 = 100) — 125.2 (2025)
• Export unit value index (2015 = 100) — 121.7 (2025)
• Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports) — 84.82% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies outside region (% of total merchandise imports) — 0.78% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies in East Asia & Pacific (% of total merchandise imports)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

What is Palau's international tourism, receipts (current US$)?

US$123 million in 2017, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 2005?

It is up 95.24% from US$63 million in 2005 (5.73% a year on average, compounded). The highest value was US$156 million in 2015 and the lowest US$60 million in 2006.

Is the latest change in international tourism, receipts (current US$) unusual for Palau?

In 2017, Palau's international tourism, receipts (current US$) fell 16.9% on 2016 (from US$148 million to US$123 million). Across the 11 yearly changes before that (2006 to 2016), the average change was +8.5% and a typical year strayed about 10.1% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 2.5 standard deviations below that average, so it was unusually large compared with the rest of the record.

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.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator ST.INT.RCPT.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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