Export revenues from tourism revised upwards to USD 2.0 trillion in 2024.


• 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 receipts). 

• Average spending remained at USD 1,170 per international trip in 2024 (constant dollars), above the pre-pandemic average of USD 1,000 per trip. 

• Growth in receipts in 2024 was fueled by strong spending from large source markets such as the United Kingdom (+16% over 2023), Canada (+13%), the United States (+12%), Australia (+8%) and France (+7%). China, the world’s top tourism spender saw outbound expenditure climbing 30% to USD 251 billion, about 3% above pre-pandemic levels.

 • Other major markets reporting strong growth in spending last year include Saudi Arabia (+17%) which already saw remarkable growth in 2023, Spain (+14%), Belgium (+14%), Netherlands (+13%) and Austria (+11%)

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