Leading countries in the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index 2019
Travel and tourism - additional information
Travel and tourism’s total contribution to global GDP reached 9.26 trillion U.S. dollars in 2019 - 3.6 trillion of this figure came from leisure spending. In that year, there were 1.35 billion international tourist arrivals worldwide, over half of these visiting Europe. This number had increased by around 250 million since 2005 and was forecasted to almost double to 1.81 billion by 2030.
The United States ranked fifth out of 140 on the 2019 Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index with a score of 5.2 out of seven. Travel and tourism’s total contribution to GDP in the U.S. was 1.67 trillion U.S. dollars and, of its direct contribution, just under 80 percent came from domestic tourists. In the same year, the industry directly created 5.9 million jobs in the U.S.