Contribution of travel and tourism to GDP in Côte d'Ivoire 2019-2020

Travel and tourism contributed approximately five percent to the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of Côte d'Ivoire in 2020. Compared to 2019, the contribution of tourism to the economy of the country experienced a significant drop due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Similar developments occurred with employment in the travel industry. In 2020, 5.9 percent of the total employment was represented by the travel and tourism sector, while in 2019 this amounted to 8.6 percent.

International tourist arrivals before the pandemic

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on travel and tourism has been severe, causing a significant decline in revenues as well as job cuts within the industry. Before the spread of the disease, Côte d'Ivoire registered an increasing number of international tourist arrivals. In 2019, just over two million visitors were counted, whereas in 2015 this amounted to approximately 1.44 million in total. Many of those arrivals had a personal purpose, while 886 thousand visited the country for business or professional purposes.

Number of hotel establishments

  The total number of hotels and similar establishments in Côte d'Ivoire increased significantly between 2015 and 2019. In 2015, the number of hotels amounted to two thousand hotels, while by 2019 this increased to just over 3.3 thousand establishments. In the same period, the occupancy rate of hotels and accommodation facilities in the country decreased from 70 percent in 2015 to around 60 percent in 2019.