Tuvalu: Travel services (% of commercial service exports)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2023, Tuvalu's travel services (% of commercial service exports) rose 45.81 percentage points on 2022 (from 39.62% to 85.43%).

Across the 21 yearly changes before that (2002 to 2022), the average change was −1.02 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 14.82 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 3.2 standard deviations above that average, so it was unusually large compared with the rest of the record.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 45.81 percentage points in 2023 and the biggest yearly fall was 36.66 percentage points in 2020. 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 14% 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, Tuvalu had the 4th 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 Tuvalu in the 2023 ranking

• Palau — 1st of 10: 93.87%
• Aruba — 2nd of 10: 88.75%
• Sint Maarten (Dutch part) — 4th of 10: 81.1%
• Comoros — 5th of 10: 77%
• Guyana — 6th of 10: 76.15%

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 23 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 Tuvalu

• Merchandise trade (% of GDP) — 47.08% (2025)
• Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$27 million (2025)
• Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$0 (2025)
• International tourism, number of arrivals — 3,600 (2019)
• Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports) — 92.75% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies outside region (% of total merchandise imports) — 0.96% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies in East Asia & Pacific (% of total merchandise imports) — 6.29% (2023)
• Merchandise imports by the reporting economy, residual (% 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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• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

What is Tuvalu's travel services (% of commercial service exports)?

85.43% in 2023, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 2001?

It is up 24.32 percentage points from 61.11% in 2001. The highest value was 85.43% in 2023 and the lowest 5.78% in 2021.

How does Tuvalu rank?

4th highest of 10 economies with data for 2023.

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

In 2023, Tuvalu's travel services (% of commercial service exports) rose 45.81 percentage points on 2022 (from 39.62% to 85.43%). Across the 21 yearly changes before that (2002 to 2022), the average change was −1.02 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 14.82 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 3.2 standard deviations above that average, so it was unusually large compared with the rest of the record.

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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