Some imagine travel as jetting off to tropical locations and relaxing on beautiful sandy beaches, while others plan adventurous excursions
across the globe. These days, with an endless variety of destinations, activities, modes of transport, accommodation, and more, it is possible for anyone to plan their perfect trip. It is therefore unsurprising that the travel and tourism industry is one of the most competitive in the world. In 2023,
(GDP) was approximately 9.9 trillion U.S. dollars, making up a 9.1 percent
.
What are the leading global tourism destinations?
When breaking down the
total contribution of travel and tourism to GDP by country, the United States and China emerged as the leading travel markets worldwide. That said, France was the
destination with the highest number of inbound tourists worldwide, both before and after the pandemic. France's capital city, Paris, was also home to the
most visited museum in the world, the Louvre, with around 8.9 million visitors in 2023.
Digitalization of the global tourism industry
The
global online travel market amounted to nearly 600 billion U.S. dollars in 2023, a figure that was forecast to exceed 800 billion U.S. dollars by 2028. Some of the leading travel companies in the online travel market are
Booking Holdings Inc. and
Expedia, which use fare aggregators and metasearch engines to help their consumers find their preferred travel-related products and services. Meanwhile,
Airbnb, online marketplace for short-and-long-term homestays has taken the accommodation world by storm since its founding over 15 years ago.
How important is sustainable tourism?
The United Nations report "Transport Related CO2 Emissions of the Tourism Sector" found that
tourism was shown to be a significant contributor to climate change. Nowadays, a growing number of tourists have begun recognizing the negative impact their trips can have on affected regions. As a result, more and more global travelers believe in the importance of
sustainable tourism and green choices. A 2024 survey revealed that 83 percent of travelers worldwide believed that
sustainable travel was important. However, this concern for the world's climate has not affected the growth of the tourism industry which has rebounded since the pandemic and has seen
annual growth in spending every year since then.
This text provides general information. Statista assumes no
liability for the information given being complete or correct.
Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date
data than referenced in the text.
