Papua New Guinea: International tourism, expenditures (% of total imports)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2018, Papua New Guinea's international tourism, expenditures (% of total imports) fell 0.95 percentage points on 2017 (from 3.19% to 2.24%).

Across the 14 yearly changes before that (2004 to 2017), the average change was +0.05 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 0.6 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.7 standard deviations below 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 1.26 percentage points in 2009 and the biggest yearly fall was 0.95 percentage points in 2018. 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 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains 12% 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 2018, Papua New Guinea had the 12th highest value of the 13 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 Papua New Guinea in the 2018 ranking

• Mali — 8th of 13: 4.19%
• Hong Kong SAR, China — 9th of 13: 3.89%
• Senegal — 10th of 13: 3.62%
• Congo, Dem. Rep. — 12th of 13: 0.65%
• Sudan — 13th of 13: 0.16%

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. Their share in imports is calculated as a ratio to imports 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 nonresidents to residents 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. 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 weighted average.

All 16 values

International tourism, expenditures (% of total imports) in nearby economies

• Australia — 2.96% (2020)
• Brunei Darussalam — 10.3% (2018)
• Cambodia — 0.92% (2020)
• Fiji — 3.91% (2020)
• French Polynesia — 12.07% (2016)
• Hong Kong SAR, China — 3.89% (2018)
• Indonesia — 1.24% (2020)
• Japan — 0.84% (2020)
• Korea, Rep. — 3.07% (2020)

More private sector & trade data for Papua New Guinea

• Merchandise trade (% of GDP) — 62.04% (2025)
• Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$4.62 billion (2025)
• Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$15.54 billion (2025)
• Merchandise exports to high-income economies (% of total merchandise exports) — 69.25% (2023)
• Merchandise exports by the reporting economy, residual (% of total merchandise exports) — 0.000374% (2023)
• Merchandise exports by the reporting economy (current US$) — US$10.86 billion (2023)
• Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports) — 58.93% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies outside region (% 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
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Questions people ask

What is Papua New Guinea's international tourism, expenditures (% of total imports)?

2.24% in 2018, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 2003?

It is down 0.29 percentage points from 2.53% in 2003. The highest value was 3.32% in 2016 and the lowest 1.24% in 2006.

How does Papua New Guinea rank?

12th highest of 13 economies with data for 2018.

Is the latest change in international tourism, expenditures (% of total imports) unusual for Papua New Guinea?

In 2018, Papua New Guinea's international tourism, expenditures (% of total imports) fell 0.95 percentage points on 2017 (from 3.19% to 2.24%). Across the 14 yearly changes before that (2004 to 2017), the average change was +0.05 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 0.6 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.7 standard deviations below 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 ST.INT.XPND.MP.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Yearbook of Tourism Statistics, Compendium of Tourism Statistics and data files, UN Tourism; IMF imports estimates, International Monetary Fund (IMF); World Bank imports 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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