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.
Ranking 2020
| Rank | Country | Value |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | 72,812,000,000 |
| 2 | France | 32,646,000,000 |
| 3 | Australia | 25,667,000,000 |
| 4 | Germany | 22,049,000,000 |
| 5 | Italy | 20,036,000,000 |
| 6 | United Kingdom | 19,098,000,000 |
| 7 | Spain | 18,352,000,000 |
| 8 | China | 14,233,000,000 |
| 9 | Thailand | 14,198,000,000 |
| 10 | Austria | 13,881,000,000 |
| 11 | India | 13,036,000,000 |
| 12 | Canada | 11,256,000,000 |
| 13 | Mexico | 10,996,000,000 |
| 14 | Japan | 10,597,000,000 |
| 15 | South Korea | 10,528,000,000 |
| 16 | Türkiye | 10,220,000,000 |
| 17 | Macao | 9,360,000,000 |
| 18 | Netherlands | 9,101,000,000 |
| 19 | Switzerland | 9,038,000,000 |
| 20 | Portugal | 8,835,000,000 |
| 21 | Poland | 7,771,000,000 |
| 22 | Belgium | 6,603,000,000 |
| 23 | New Zealand | 6,229,000,000 |
| 24 | Croatia | 5568853027.34 |
| 25 | Singapore | 5,189,000,000 |
| 26 | Iran | 5,024,000,000 |
| 27 | Greece | 5,015,000,000 |
| 28 | Egypt | 4,398,000,000 |
| 29 | Sweden | 4,370,000,000 |
| 30 | Luxembourg | 4,189,000,000 |
| 31 | Saudi Arabia | 4,036,000,000 |
| 32 | Denmark | 3,970,000,000 |
| 33 | Morocco | 3,848,000,000 |
| 34 | Czechia | 3,632,000,000 |
| 35 | Qatar | 3,563,000,000 |
| 36 | Indonesia | 3,312,000,000 |
| 37 | Hungary | 3,229,000,000 |
| 38 | Brazil | 3,044,000,000 |
| 39 | Malaysia | 3,004,000,000 |
| 40 | Russia | 2,854,000,000 |
| 41 | Hong Kong | 2,839,000,000 |
| 42 | Dominican Republic | 2,674,000,000 |
| 43 | South Africa | 2,607,000,000 |
| 44 | Tanzania | 2604399902.34 |
| 45 | Israel | 2,500,000,000 |
| 46 | Myanmar | 2,483,000,000 |
| 47 | Lebanon | 2,353,000,000 |
| 48 | Philippines | 2,010,000,000 |
| 49 | Andorra | 1,897,000,000 |
| 50 | Ireland | 1,858,000,000 |
| 51 | Norway | 1,792,000,000 |
| 52 | Syria | 1,753,000,000 |
| 53 | Bulgaria | 1,636,000,000 |
| 54 | Argentina | 1,616,000,000 |
| 55 | Colombia | 1,595,000,000 |
| 56 | Romania | 1,433,000,000 |
| 57 | Jordan | 1,409,000,000 |
| 58 | Maldives | 1,398,000,000 |
| 59 | Slovenia | 1370300048.83 |
| 60 | Costa Rica | 1,356,000,000 |
| 61 | Jamaica | 1,349,000,000 |
| 62 | Slovakia | 1,254,000,000 |
| 63 | Finland | 1,245,000,000 |
| 63 | Serbia | 1,245,000,000 |
| 65 | Cuba | 1,137,000,000 |
| 66 | Albania | 1,134,000,000 |
| 67 | Barbados | 1,125,000,000 |
| 68 | Panama | 1,117,000,000 |
| 69 | Aruba | 1,076,000,000 |
| 70 | Uruguay | 1,055,000,000 |
| 71 | Ethiopia | 1,033,000,000 |
| 72 | Cambodia | 1,023,000,000 |
| 73 | Kenya | 1,007,000,000 |
| 74 | Bahamas | 1,002,000,000 |
| 75 | Iraq | 955,000,000 |
| 76 | Cayman Islands | 919,000,000 |
| 77 | Tunisia | 852,000,000 |
| 78 | Turks and Caicos Islands | 787,000,000 |
| 79 | Peru | 776,000,000 |
| 80 | Ecuador | 702,000,000 |
| 81 | Sudan | 689,000,000 |
| 82 | Sri Lanka | 682,000,000 |
| 83 | Bahrain | 673,000,000 |
| 84 | Cyprus | 663,000,000 |
| 85 | Iceland | 652,000,000 |
| 86 | French Polynesia | 642,000,000 |
| 87 | El Salvador | 636,000,000 |
| 88 | Estonia | 588,000,000 |
| 89 | Georgia | 542,000,000 |
| 90 | Uganda | 504,000,000 |
| 91 | Senegal | 496,000,000 |
| 92 | Venezuela | 473,000,000 |
| 93 | Lithuania | 470,000,000 |
| 94 | Mauritius | 466,000,000 |
| 95 | Kazakhstan | 459,000,000 |
| 96 | Haiti | 450,000,000 |
| 97 | Oman | 441,000,000 |
| 98 | Pakistan | 439,000,000 |
| 99 | Cameroon | 437,000,000 |
| 100 | Latvia | 430,000,000 |
| 101 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 426,000,000 |
| 102 | Malta | 418,000,000 |
| 103 | Zambia | 412,000,000 |
| 104 | Chile | 406,000,000 |
| 105 | Kuwait | 397,000,000 |
| 106 | Antigua and Barbuda | 386,000,000 |
| 107 | Ukraine | 374,000,000 |
| 108 | Belarus | 355,000,000 |
| 109 | Uzbekistan | 345,000,000 |
| 110 | Saint Lucia | 340,000,000 |
| 111 | Moldova | 316,000,000 |
| 112 | Nigeria | 313,000,000 |
| 113 | Azerbaijan | 304,000,000 |
| 114 | Guatemala | 297,000,000 |
| 115 | Armenia | 293,000,000 |
| 116 | Curaçao | 281,000,000 |
| 117 | North Macedonia | 252,000,000 |
| 118 | Belize | 247,000,000 |
| 119 | Benin | 240,000,000 |
| 120 | Sint Maarten (Dutch part) | 234,000,000 |
| 121 | Mali | 227,000,000 |
| 122 | Seychelles | 221,000,000 |
| 123 | Bangladesh | 217,000,000 |
| 124 | Laos | 213,000,000 |
| 125 | Botswana | 211,000,000 |
| 126 | Nicaragua | 199,000,000 |
| 127 | Nepal | 197,000,000 |
| 128 | Grenada | 195,000,000 |
| 129 | Bolivia | 191,000,000 |
| 129 | Palestine | 191,000,000 |
| 131 | Honduras | 187,000,000 |
| 132 | Côte d'Ivoire | 166100006.1 |
| 133 | Montenegro | 166,000,000 |
| 134 | Cabo Verde | 159,000,000 |
| 134 | New Caledonia | 159,000,000 |
| 136 | Fiji | 151,000,000 |
| 136 | Kyrgyzstan | 151,000,000 |
| 138 | Togo | 149,000,000 |
| 139 | Madagascar | 145,000,000 |
| 140 | Trinidad and Tobago | 143,000,000 |
| 141 | Rwanda | 120,000,000 |
| 142 | Namibia | 118,000,000 |
| 143 | Saint Kitts and Nevis | 117,000,000 |
| 144 | Burkina Faso | 116,000,000 |
| 144 | Niger | 116,000,000 |
| 144 | Palau | 116,000,000 |
| 147 | Ghana | 110,000,000 |
| 148 | Yemen | 100,000,000 |
| 149 | Bermuda | 94,000,000 |
| 150 | Mozambique | 90,000,000 |
| 151 | Bhutan | 84,000,000 |
| 152 | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | 83,000,000 |
| 153 | Paraguay | 81,000,000 |
| 154 | DR Congo | 80800003.05 |
| 155 | Afghanistan | 65,000,000 |
| 156 | Zimbabwe | 63,000,000 |
| 157 | Vanuatu | 62,000,000 |
| 158 | Gambia | 47,000,000 |
| 158 | Tonga | 47,000,000 |
| 160 | Algeria | 43,000,000 |
| 160 | Sierra Leone | 43,000,000 |
| 162 | Republic of Congo | 41,000,000 |
| 163 | Brunei | 38,000,000 |
| 164 | Dominica | 32,000,000 |
| 165 | Malawi | 30,000,000 |
| 166 | Djibouti | 29700000.76 |
| 167 | Mongolia | 29,000,000 |
| 168 | Timor-Leste | 26,000,000 |
| 169 | Gabon | 25,000,000 |
| 169 | Micronesia | 25,000,000 |
| 171 | Guyana | 24,000,000 |
| 172 | Samoa | 23,000,000 |
| 173 | American Samoa | 22,000,000 |
| 174 | Guinea-Bissau | 18899999.62 |
| 175 | Comoros | 18,000,000 |
| 176 | Sao Tome and Principe | 16399999.62 |
| 177 | Angola | 16,000,000 |
| 178 | Suriname | 15,000,000 |
| 179 | Central African Republic | 11600000.38 |
| 180 | Marshall Islands | 8600000.38 |
| 181 | Tuvalu | 7599999.9 |
| 182 | Eswatini | 7,000,000 |
| 183 | Tajikistan | 6400000.1 |
| 184 | Solomon Islands | 6,000,000 |
| 185 | Mauritania | 5,500,000 |
| 186 | Lesotho | 5,000,000 |
| 187 | Burundi | 3900000.1 |
| 188 | Papua New Guinea | 3460000.04 |
| 189 | Liberia | 1899999.98 |
| 190 | Nauru | 1600000.02 |
| 191 | Guinea | 1200000.05 |
| 192 | South Sudan | 1,000,000 |
| 193 | Kiribati | 30000 |
Analysis
This metric measures international tourism receipts for travel items, defined as expenditures by international inbound visitors in the reporting economy. According to the source definition: 'The goods and services are purchased by, or on behalf of, the traveler or provided, without a quid pro quo, for the traveler to use or give away. These receipts should include any other prepayment made for goods or services received in the destination country.' Values are reported in current US dollars as absolute totals. Data covers 193 countries for the 2020 reference year, drawn from the World Bank World Development Indicators (indicator code ST.INT.TVLR.CD). Of 193 countries, 158 (81.9%) have data from 2020 itself, and 172 (89.1%) have data from the last seven years. All datapoints (100%) are classified as official. The ranking contains 27 extreme statistical outliers at the 3-sigma threshold.
The top ten countries in 2020 are concentrated in wealthy, high-visitor economies. The United States led at $72.81 billion (rank 1), followed by France at $32.65 billion (rank 2) and Australia at $25.67 billion (rank 3). Germany (rank 4, $22.05 billion), Italy (rank 5, $20.04 billion), and the United Kingdom (rank 6, $19.10 billion) round out the upper tier. Spain ranked 7th at $18.35 billion. In Asia, China ranked 8th at $14.23 billion, Thailand 9th at $14.20 billion, and Austria 10th at $13.88 billion. India ranked 11th at $13.04 billion, and Macao SAR, China appeared at rank 17 with $9.36 billion, notable given its small geographic size.
Several anomalies are visible in the middle and lower segments of the ranking. Andorra, a microstate by most definitions, ranked 49th with $1.90 billion, placing ahead of Ireland (rank 50, $1.86 billion) and Norway (rank 51, $1.79 billion). Syrian Arab Republic appeared at rank 52 with $1.75 billion despite ongoing conflict conditions visible in its context. Luxembourg ranked 30th at $4.19 billion, ahead of Saudi Arabia (rank 31, $4.04 billion) and Denmark (rank 32, $3.97 billion). At the lower end, South Sudan ranked 192nd at $1.00 million, and Kiribati ranked last at $30,000. Several small island economies such as Tuvalu (rank 181, $7.6 million) and Nauru (rank 190, $1.6 million) also appear near the bottom.
A key limitation of this metric is that 2020 data is heavily affected by the global reduction in international travel that year, meaning values are not representative of typical annual tourism receipts for many countries. Rankings in this dataset may differ substantially from pre-2020 patterns. Reporting reliability varies: some values show non-round figures (e.g., Croatia at $5,568,853,027 and Tanzania at $2,604,399,902), suggesting different estimation or conversion methods. The metric counts only travel items within the broader tourism receipts category, so other tourism-related financial flows not meeting the definition may be excluded. Countries with structural gaps in national accounts reporting may underreport receipts. The 27 extreme outliers at the 3-sigma threshold indicate that a small number of countries pull the distribution sharply, and the average year-over-year change of 28.8% reflects the volatility inherent in this metric, particularly in the 2020 data year.
Methodology
Data are sourced from the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code ST.INT.TVLR.CD, for the reference year 2020. The metric measures international tourism receipts for travel items in current US dollars. The source definition states: 'International tourism receipts for travel items are expenditures by international inbound visitors in the reporting economy. The goods and services are purchased by, or on behalf of, the traveler or provided, without a quid pro quo, for the traveler to use or give away. These receipts should include any other prepayment made for goods or services received in the destination country.' The ranking covers 193 countries. Of these, 158 (81.9%) have data specifically from 2020, and 172 (89.1%) have data from within the last seven years. All 193 datapoints (100%) are classified as official quality. The viability checks identified 27 extreme outliers at the 3-sigma threshold and an average year-over-year change of 28.8%. The value range spans from $30,000 (Kiribati, rank 193) to $72,812,000,000 (United States, rank 1), a spread of over 242 million percent. Higher values indicate greater receipts and are treated as better-performing in this ranking.