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International tourist arrivals grew 5% in January-March 2025.

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  • International tourist arrivals (overnight visitors) increased by 5% in the first quarter of 2025 (compared to the same period in 2024), or 3% above prepandemic year 2019.  • Over 300 million tourists travelled internationally in Q1 2025 , about 14 million more than in the same period of 2024.  • Despite growing geopolitical and trade tensions , the start of 2025 saw robust and sustained travel demand, though results were mixed among regions and subregions. • Africa (+9%) showed the strongest performance in Q1 2025 as compared to the first quarter of 2024, while the Americas, Europe (both +2%) and the Middle East (+1%) saw comparatively more modest results. Asia and the Pacific (+13%) continued to rebound strongly, though arrivals still remained slightly below prepandemic levels. • Available data on international tourism receipts show strong visitor spending this early part of 2025, building on the strong momentum of 2024 with many destinations reporting solid growt...
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International tourism shows sustained momentum at the start of 2025.

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  International tourist arrivals (overnight visitors) increased 5% in January-March 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, or 3% more than in pre-pandemic year 2019.  • This follows a landmark year in 2024, when international tourism fully recovered pre-pandemic levels to reach 1.5 billion.  • Over 300 million tourists travelled internationally in the first three months of 2025 , about 14 million more than in the same months of 2024.  • Growth slowed after a strong start of the year , from 11% in January, to 3% in February and 2% in March (compared to 2024) though these results are partly due to the calendar effect, since Easter fell in April this year, instead of March in 2024.  • February also had one day less, compared to leap year 2024, partly affecting traveller numbers that month.  • Overall, the start of 2025 saw robust and sustained travel demand despite growing geopolitical and trade tensions, though results were mixed among regions and subre...
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Africa shows solid results, while Asia and the Pacific rebounds strongly.

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  • Europe welcomed 125 million international tourists in the first three months of the year, up 2% from Q1 2024, and 5% more than the same period before the pandemic.  • In Southern Mediterranean Europe arrivals increased 2%, reflecting growing demand for off-season travel to some destinations. • Central and Eastern Europe rebounded strongly (+8% over 2024), especially Baltic destinations, though visitor numbers in the subregion still remain somewhat below 2019 levels.  • North Macedonia (+22%), Lithuania (+21%), Malta (19%), Latvia (16%), Finland (+15%) and Spain (+6%) showed robust performance among European destinations with available data for Q1 2025.  • Africa recorded 9% growth in international arrivals in Q1 2025, compared to 2024, exceeding pre-pandemic traveller numbers by 16%.  • The best performers in Africa according to available data for Q1 2025 include The Gambia (+46%), Morocco (+22%), Ethiopia (+7%) and South Africa (+6%).  • The Americas s...
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Export revenues from tourism revised upwards to USD 2.0 trillion in 2024.

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• Revised data shows total export revenues from international tourism (receipts and passenger transport) growing by 11% (real terms) to reach a record USD 2.0 trillion in 2024, or 15% above prepandemic levels.  • This represents about 6% of the world’s total exports of goods and services and 23% of global trade in services.  • International tourism receipts , the main component of tourism revenues, grew 11% to USD 1.7 trillion, also in real terms (adjusted for inflation and exchange rate fluctuations).  • This exceeds UN Tourism’s preliminary estimates (January 2025) and reflects stronger-than-expected visitor spending in many destinations, mostly in Europe and the Americas, despite the fact that inflation in services continues to be higher than in the overall economy.  • Tourism inflation eased moderately to 8.0% in 2024 but still exceeded the 5.7% headline rate of inflation. (See methodology of new tourism inflation proxy in the section on international tourism r...
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Strong growth in receipts across many destinations in early 2025.

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  • Available data on international tourism receipts for Q1 2025 shows solid growth in visitor spending in many destinations, especially in Europe and Asia and the Pacific.  • Spain, the world’s second largest tourism earner, reported 9% growth in January-February 2025 (compared to the same two months in 2024), after a remarkable 16% increase in the full year of 2024.  • Also in Southern Mediterranean Europe, Türkiye saw a 7% increase in Q1 2025, while Greece, Italy and Portugal all reported 4% growth in receipts.  • France recorded 6% growth in international tourism receipts in the first quarter, while Norway reported 20% and Denmark 11%.  • In Asia and the Pacific, Japan continued to enjoy a surge in receipts in Q1 (+34%), while Nepal (+18%), the Republic of Korea and Mongolia (both +14%) also recorded double-digit growth.  • The United States, the world’s top tourism earner, reported 3% growth in January
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Economic and geopolitical headwinds continue to pose significant risks.

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  • The latest Panel of Tourism Experts survey points to economic factors including weaker economic growth, high travel costs and the recent increase in tariffs as the main challenges that could impact international tourism in 2025.  • The increase in tariffs was ranked as the third major concern by the Panel in the May 2025 survey. Tariffs are taxes on imported goods and as such, can lead to higher consumer prices and thus put pressure on household consumption expenditure as well as disrupt global value chains.  • Uncertainty from growing geopolitical and trade tensions are also weighing on travel confidence. Lower consumer confidence was ranked fourth among the factors expected to affect tourism this year, while geopolitical risks (aside from ongoing conflicts) ranked fifth.  • According to the survey, tourists will continue to seek value for money but could also travel closer to home and make shorter trips to spend less, in response to elevated prices. Cautious op...
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Cautious optimism for upcoming Northern Hemisphere summer season.

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• The latest UN Tourism Confidence Index reflects cautious optimism for the period May-August 2025 which includes the summer season in the Northern Hemisphere.  • On a scale of 0 to 200 (where 100 indicates equal expected performance), experts gave the period MayAugust 2025 a score of 114, down from 125 for January-April 2025, and below 130 for May-August 2024.  • Some 45% of Panel experts indicated better (40%) or much better (5%) prospects for this 4-month period, while 33% foresee similar performance than in the same period of 2024. Some 22% expect tourism performance to be worse.  • Experts highlighted the uncertainty and unpredictability derived from import tariffs and its potential impact on the economy and travel sentiment.  • While one third of survey respondents indicate little or no impact from trade tensions on tourism performance, some 25% expect some impact in the near future.  • IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook (April 2025) shows weaker economi...
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