Zambia's international tourism, expenditures for travel items (current US$) was US$234 million in 2020, the latest year in the World Bank's World Development Indicators. That is up 122.86% from US$105 million in 2010 (8.34% a year on average, compounded).
Key figures
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Latest | US$234 million | 2020 |
| Five years earlier | US$234 million | 2015 |
| Ten years earlier | US$105 million | 2010 |
| Highest | US$298 million | 2019 |
| Lowest | US$24 million | 1998 |
| Average since 2011 | US$222.3 million | 2011–2020 |
| First recorded | US$26 million |
What the numbers say
In 2020, Zambia's international tourism, expenditures for travel items (current US$) fell 21.5% on 2019 (from US$298 million to US$234 million).
Across the 22 yearly changes before that (1998 to 2019), the average change was +13.6% and a typical year strayed about 23% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.5 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 79.2% in 1999 and the biggest yearly fall was 21.5% 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 2011 to 2020 the straight-line trend is upward, about US$14.54 million a year. A straight line explains 68% 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.
A straight-line projection, tested first
Extending that straight line gives about US$345.97 million for 2023. We show this only because the same method, fitted on earlier years, predicted 2018 to 2020 better than "no change" would have: its average miss was US$29.17 million, against US$47.33 million for assuming no change. Treat it as a continuation of the recent pattern, not a forecast of events: it cannot see a recession, a policy change or a revision to the data.
See how a linear trend forecast works and the guide on forecasting without fooling yourself.
How it compares
In 2020, Zambia had the 93rd highest value of the 155 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.
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Zambia | US$234 million | 2020 |
| World | US$1.4 trillion | 2019 |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | US$26.04 billion | 2019 |
| Lower middle income | US$117.55 billion | 2019 |
Closest to Zambia in the 2020 ranking
- Guatemala — 91st of 155: US$256 million
- Lao PDR — 92nd of 155: US$251 million
- Algeria — 93rd of 155: US$234 million
- Dominican Republic — 95th of 155: US$214 million
- Côte d'Ivoire — 96th of 155: US$205 million
- Mauritius — 97th of 155: US$205 million
What this measures
International tourism expenditures are expenditures of international outbound visitors in other countries. The goods and services are purchased by, or on behalf of, the traveler or provided, without a quid pro quo, for the traveler to use or give away. These may include expenditures by residents traveling abroad as same-day visitors, except in cases where these are so important as to justify a separate classification. Excluded is the international carriage of travelers, which is covered in passenger travel items. Data are in current U.S. dollars.
Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a gap-filled total.
All 24 values
| Year | International tourism, expenditures for travel items (current US$) |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 234,000,000 |
| 2019 | 298,000,000 |
| 2018 | 279,000,000 |
| 2017 | 223,000,000 |
| 2016 | 247,000,000 |
| 2015 | 234,000,000 |
| 2014 | 222,000,000 |
| 2013 | 210,000,000 |
| 2012 | 165,000,000 |
| 2011 | 111,000,000 |
International tourism, expenditures for travel items (current US$) in nearby economies
- Angola — US$615 million (2020)
- Benin — US$94 million (2019)
- Botswana — US$89 million (2020)
- Burkina Faso — US$114.6 million (2019)
- Burundi — US$23 million (2018)
- Cabo Verde — US$52 million (2020)
- Cameroon — US$553 million (2020)
- Comoros — US$31 million (2020)
- Congo, Dem. Rep.
More private sector & trade data for Zambia
- Merchandise trade (% of GDP) — 91.71% (2025)
- Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$13.17 billion (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$13.31 billion (2025)
- Merchandise imports from economies in the Arab World (% of total merchandise imports) — 16.21% (2023)
- Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports) — 37.56% (2023)
- Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies outside region (% of total merchandise imports) — 24.96% (2023)
- Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies in East Asia & Pacific (% of total merchandise imports) — 18.06% (2023)
- Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies in Middle East & North Africa (% of total merchandise imports)
Reading data like this
Questions people ask
- What is Zambia's international tourism, expenditures for travel items (current US$)?
- US$234 million in 2020, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).
- How has it changed since 1997?
- It is up 800% from US$26 million in 1997 (10.02% a year on average, compounded). The highest value was US$298 million in 2019 and the lowest US$24 million in 1998.
Source
World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator ST.INT.TVLX.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.
Want to ask your own questions of data like this? Try AnalyzeIt: upload a file or ask about public data in plain words, and every figure comes with its working.
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