The tourism industry has witnessed a fluctuating trend in expenditure in the last few years, as spending in 2019 reached record highs before it plummeted in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to data from the World Tourism Organization (UNTWO), Chinese nationals held the first position for having the highest international tourism expenditure in 2018 – with around €262 billion spent in this country, followed by Americans with €119 billion and Germans with €91 million.
The list of countries with the highest outbound tourism expenditure figures for 2018, when the world was anticipated to witness record highs in the tourism industry as well as an expenditure made in this sector, is further concluded with the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates, with an expenditure level of €80 and 66 billion, respectively.
Countries with a higher expenditure level include France, Australia and South Korea, spending between €40 and €33 billion in 2018. Canada and Russia also had high expenditure levels, totalling €32 billion.
By the end of 2019, the expenditure levels peaked at €154 billion for Chinese nationals, followed by €49 billion from the US and around €46 billion from Germany.
Similarly, the UK and France expenditure reached around €32 and €30 billion, while South Korea and the United Arab Emirates spent around €17 billion, respectively. Expenditure levels dropped to €15 billion for Canadians, followed by Indians and Italians, with around €12 billion spent on tourism.
However, in 2020, the expenditure in these countries remained in the same positions, meaning that China, the United States and Germany had the highest expenditures, the figures dropped significantly compared to the previous years, with the COVID-19 pandemic being one of the reasons.
More specifically, Chinese nationals’ spending dropped to €106 billion, Americans’ to €52 billion, and Germans spent around €48 billion on tourism during this period. Similarly, expenditure dropped to €27 billion in the UK, €19 billion in the UAE, around €16 billion in South Korea and €13 billion in Italy. In addition, India, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, which had the highest expenditure levels for the year, witnessed spending between €12 and €8 billion.
Between 2021 and 2022, countries with the highest international tourism expenditures had a shift, with China being entirely off the list. Now, the US was listed first, with expenditure levels of €110 billion, followed by Germany (€85 billion), while Italy climbed to the third position with €23 billion. Canada was listed fourth with €19 billion expenditure levels, followed by Spain (€18 billion), South Korea (€17 billion) and Saudi Arabia (€13 billion).
Australia, Qatar and Brazil were on the list of top countries with the highest expenditure levels recorded between 2021 and 2022, spending between €11 and €9 billion during this period.
