Tourism rankings
Tourism is one of the world's largest industries — and one of the most unequal. These rankings compare what countries earn from visitors, what their residents spend abroad, and how travel flows shape economies from the Caribbean to Southeast Asia.
Countries by International tourism, receipts for travel items (current US$)
The United States ranked first in international tourism receipts for travel items in 2020, recording $72.81 billion — more than double second-ranked France at $32.65 billion. At the other end, Kiribati recorded just $30,000, placing 193rd. The gap between first and last spans over 242 million percent, reflecting extreme variation in tourism scale across countries.
Countries by International tourism, expenditures for travel items (current US$)
China ranks 1st in international tourism expenditures with $130.5 billion in 2020, more than three times the second-ranked Germany at $38.8 billion. At the other end, South Sudan ranks 193rd with just $1 million. The gap between top and bottom spans over 13 million percent, reflecting vast differences in outbound travel capacity across economies.
Countries by International tourism, expenditures (current US$)
Germany ranks 1st in international tourism expenditures with $101.23 billion in 2020, more than double the United States at rank 2 with $48.84 billion. At the other end, Samoa ranks 183rd with just $1.8 million. The gap between first and last spans over 5.6 million percent, reflecting vast differences in outbound travel capacity across economies.
Countries by International tourism, expenditures (% of total imports)
Qatar ranks 1st in international tourism expenditures as a share of total imports, with outbound tourism spending equal to 19.48% of its import bill in 2020. At the other end, Sudan ranks 178th at just 0.16%, a gap of more than 119 percentage points. That spread reflects how unevenly tourism spending weighs on national import structures across economies of vastly different sizes and trade profiles.