Related to the thread about which US state gets the least income from tourism, which country gets the most?
I know tourism is one of NZ’s biggest industries but what about Britain, Australia, America etc. Perhaps per head of capiata is fairest. Maybe somewhere like the Maldives, Samoa or Fiji wins.
A: The World Tourism Association is a U.N. agency that promotes tourism (http://www2.unwto.org/). They issue an annual report and the latest report is from 2015. The report has a “By the Numbers” section which breaks down tourist arrivals by continent on page 15 (http://cf.cdn.unwto.org/sites/all/files/pdf/annual_report_2015_lr.pdf). According to this, Europe accounted for 51% of the tourism "market ", with 609M arrivals. Page 17 of the report includes sources used for the section; there is a Compendium of Tourism Statistics which compiles the information from individual countries. The latest available is the 2016 Compendium which has data from 2010-2014 on inbound and outbound tourism for individual countries. Unfortunately, the Compendium is available for purchase only. I checked WorldCat to see if other editions are readily available. The Hathi Trust lists the availability of various editions (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/15666615.html) The latest edition available for limited search only is from 2008, via the University of Minnesota libraries.
Without access to the full Compendium, it’s hard to find figures on the tourism industry across multiple countries. Also, presumably the U.N. collects data only from member states (Quora has a thread on which countries/territories are not U.N. members at https://www.quora.com/United-Nations-What-countries-are-not-part-of-the-UN).
However, I found figures on the countries mentioned below from:
Population & GDP (Gross Domestic Product) Per Capita figures in U.S. dollars are taken from the World Factbook at https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/.
The World Bank collects data on tourism receipts by country and this information is available at http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/ST.INT.RCPT.CD (note: numbers are reported in millions of U.S. $)
Australia
Population: 22,992,654
GDP Per Capita: $47,600
Tourism Receipts 2014 in USD millions: $31,117
Fiji
Population: 915,303
GDP Per Capita: $9,100
Tourism Receipts 2014 in USD millions: no data
Maldives
Population: 392,960
GDP Per Capita: $14,900
Tourism Receipts 2014 in USD millions: $2,645
New Zealand
Population 4, 474,549
GDP Per capita 2015: $36,100
Tourism Receipts 2014 in USD millions: $8,400
Samoa
Population: 198,926
GDP Per Capita: $5,200
Tourism Receipts 2014 in USD millions: $146
United Kingdom
Population: 64, 430,428
GDP Per Capita: $41,500
Tourism Receipts 2014 in USD millions: $62,830
United States
Population: 323,995,528
GDP Per Capita:$56,100
Tourism Receipts 2014 in USD millions: $220,757
Do you only wish to count tourism income spent by foreigners? I’d guess that within the U.S., a larger portion of the tourism income is from citizens. I assume this is true in most countries, but would guess the fraction is larger in the US due to its size. I suspect there is quite a it less tourism in other large countries like Russia, China, and Canada.
Note that this is a twelve-year-old thread and the OP hasn’t posted in a couple of years.
How is “tourism” defined? Does “tourism” include Mexicans living in Juarez going to Walmart in El Paso? Does it include people in EU countries that commute across an international border everyday?
nm
The WTA annual report linked by Debs181 seems to define tourists as overnight visitors (page 15).
My guess for the most tourists per capita would be Vatican City. But none would be overnight visitors.
So who counts them? Do hotels keep track of how many of their guess are foreign nationals? To whom do they report that? Do hotels keep track of how much people spend outside the hotel?
The onlly waiy I can think of that reasonably accurate information could be obtained, is by credit card companies reporting how much money they charge a foreign exchange fee on. And I doubt they would reveal that.
nm
This table shows Thailand as one of the biggest tourism countries. It would soar toward the top of the list if tourism receipts were shown as a percent of the economy. (But Macau would then be above Thailand !)
[off-topic] Have many Americans postponed their Thailand holidays due to the sad death of our King?
Government monetary authorities have a pretty clear idea, I think, of foreign exchange transactions. They use other reports to distinguish tourism, import/export, and other transfers.
No, but I’ve grown a little concerned about my travel clothing. In late November, will a blue golf shirt and khakis mark me as an Ugly American? What if I wear a black ribbon?
I think the black ribbon will suffice. I was in Bangkok last week and many (locals and tourists) didn’t even have that. BTW, white is considered a respectful mourning color as well as black.
Seychelles or Maldives I would think.