Countries That Earn the Most from Tourism 2018

About This Dataset

Countries ranked by tourism receipts (USD billion) in 2018, using World Bank figures for the 164 countries that reported that year. United States leads on 242.0, ahead of France (72.5) and Thailand (61.4). Money spent inside the country by international visitors, including fares paid to national carriers. It measures receipts, not visitor numbers, so a country with fewer but wealthier visitors can rank above a busier neighbour. The World Bank stopped updating this series after 2020, so 2019 is the last full year before the pandemic and the most recent normal one available.

Analysis

United States (242.0), France (72.5) and Thailand (61.4) take the top three. Across the twenty shown, values run from 242.0 down to 21.3, a spread of 220.7. Most of that spread sits between first and second alone (169.5 of 220.7), so United States stands apart from the rest of the table. No other country in the table reaches half the leading figure of 242.0. United States stood at 233.8 in 2017, so its figure rose by 8.2 over the year. United States also came first in 2017. Of the 20 in this table that also reported in 2017, 20 recorded a higher figure than the year before and 0 a lower one. The largest single move was Japan, from 37.0 to 45.3. The chart shows the twenty highest of 164 reporting countries, so it describes the top of the distribution rather than the world average.

Source: World Bank

Key Findings

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United States leads in Tourism Receipts (USD Billion) with 242 in 2018.

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Average Tourism Receipts (USD Billion) in 2018: 47 · median: 36.

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Gap in 2018: United States is 11.4× larger than Switzerland.