Palau: Travel services (% of commercial service exports)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2023, Palau's travel services (% of commercial service exports) rose 8.06 percentage points on 2022 (from 85.81% to 93.87%).

Across the 17 yearly changes before that (2006 to 2022), the average change was −0.02 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 7.29 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.1 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 16.87 percentage points in 2022 and the biggest yearly fall was 23.08 percentage points in 2021. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2014 to 2023 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains 13% of the movement over 10 observed years, so the value is moving around more than it is heading anywhere.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

How it compares

In 2023, Palau had the 2nd highest value of the 10 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.

Closest to Palau in the 2023 ranking

• Aruba — 2nd of 10: 88.75%
• Tuvalu — 3rd of 10: 85.43%
• Sint Maarten (Dutch part) — 4th of 10: 81.1%

What this measures

Travel services cover goods and services for own use or to give away acquired from an economy by nonresidents during visits to that economy, or acquired from other economies by residents during visits to these other economies. This indicator is expressed as a percentage of service exports which are commercial services provided by residents to non-residents.

Limitations: Balance of payments statistics, the main source of information on international trade in services, have many weaknesses. Disaggregation of important components may be limited and varies considerably across countries. There are inconsistencies in the methods used to report items. And the recording of major flows as net items is common (for example, insurance transactions are often recorded as premiums less claims). These factors contribute to a downward bias in the value of the service trade reported in the balance of payments. Efforts are being made to improve the coverage, quality, and consistency of these data.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.

All 19 values

Travel services (% of commercial service exports) in nearby economies

• Australia — 60.73% (2025)
• Brunei Darussalam — 36.38% (2025)
• Cambodia — 75.23% (2025)
• China — 14.4% (2025)
• Fiji — 55.17% (2024)
• French Polynesia — 56.74% (2016)
• Hong Kong SAR, China — 21.54% (2025)
• Indonesia — 43.16% (2025)
• Japan — 26.4% (2025)
• Kiribati

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

• 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 Palau's travel services (% of commercial service exports)?

93.87% in 2023, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 2005?

It is up 7.73 percentage points from 86.14% in 2005. The highest value was 93.87% in 2023 and the lowest 68.94% in 2021.

How does Palau rank?

2nd highest of 10 economies with data for 2023.

Is the latest change in travel services (% of commercial service exports) unusual for Palau?

In 2023, Palau's travel services (% of commercial service exports) rose 8.06 percentage points on 2022 (from 85.81% to 93.87%). Across the 17 yearly changes before that (2006 to 2022), the average change was −0.02 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 7.29 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.1 standard deviations above that average, so it was larger than a typical year, though not out of the range seen before.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator TX.VAL.TRVL.ZS.WT, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF) 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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