São Tomé and Principe: Travel services (% of commercial service exports)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2025, São Tomé and Principe's travel services (% of commercial service exports) fell 8.86 percentage points on 2024 (from 88.29% to 79.42%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1988 to 2024), the average change was +0.51 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 7.83 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.2 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 32.84 percentage points in 1987 and the biggest yearly fall was 30.45 percentage points in 1978. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2016 to 2025 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains 22% 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 2025, São Tomé and Principe had the 14th highest value of the 134 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 São Tomé and Principe in the 2025 ranking

• Lao PDR — 11th of 134: 81.14%
• Cabo Verde — 12th of 134: 80.28%
• Dominican Republic — 13th of 134: 80.25%
• Zambia — 15th of 134: 76.62%
• Kosovo — 16th of 134: 75.68%
• Lesotho — 17th of 134: 75.51%

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 46 values

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

• Angola — 13.87% (2025)
• Benin — 55.64% (2023)
• Botswana — 55.17% (2025)
• Burkina Faso — 23.75% (2024)
• Burundi — 4.17% (2025)
• Cabo Verde — 80.28% (2025)
• Cameroon — 12.99% (2024)
• Comoros — 77% (2023)
• Congo, Dem. Rep. — 53.31% (2025)
• Congo, Rep.

More private sector & trade data for São Tomé and Principe

• Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$183 million (2025)
• Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$38 million (2025)
• Merchandise trade (% of GDP) — 22.52% (2025)
• Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports) — 50.15% (2023)
• Merchandise imports by the reporting economy, residual (% of total merchandise imports) — 0% (2023)
• Merchandise imports by the reporting economy (current US$) — US$181.65 million (2023)
• Merchandise exports to high-income economies (% of total merchandise exports) — 96.73% (2023)
• Merchandise exports by the reporting economy, residual (% of total merchandise exports)

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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• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

What is São Tomé and Principe's travel services (% of commercial service exports)?

79.42% in 2025, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1974?

It is up 42.65 percentage points from 36.77% in 1974. The highest value was 97.31% in 2018 and the lowest 12.44% in 1978.

How does São Tomé and Principe rank?

14th highest of 134 economies with data for 2025.

Is the latest change in travel services (% of commercial service exports) unusual for São Tomé and Principe?

In 2025, São Tomé and Principe's travel services (% of commercial service exports) fell 8.86 percentage points on 2024 (from 88.29% to 79.42%). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1988 to 2024), the average change was +0.51 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 7.83 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.2 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 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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