tourism satellite account new zealand

Tourism satellite account: 2019

• Post author: Tourism Advisory
• Post published: June 12, 2020
• Post category: Economy / Environment / Marketing / New Zealand​ / Planning / Policy / Research / Tourism

The tourism satellite account provides a picture of the role tourism plays in New Zealand, with information on the changing levels and impact of tourism activity.

Key provisional estimates 

Key provisional estimates for the year ended March 2019:

• Total tourism expenditure was $40.9 billion, an increase of 4.0 percent ($1.6 billion) from the previous year.
• International tourism expenditure increased 5.2 percent ($843 million) to $17.2 billion, and contributed 20.4 percent to New Zealand’s total exports of goods and services.
• Domestic tourism expenditure increased 3.3 percent ($746 million) to $23.7 billion.
• Tourism generated a direct contribution to GDP of $16.2 billion, or 5.8 percent of GDP.
• The indirect value added of industries supporting tourism generated an additional $11.2 billion, or 4.0 percent of GDP.
• 229,566 people were directly employed in tourism (8.4 percent of the total number of people employed in New Zealand), an increase of 3.9 percent from the previous year.
• Tourists generated $3.8 billion in goods and services tax (GST) revenue, with $1.8 billion coming from international tourists.
• Overseas visitor arrivals to New Zealand increased 1.3 percent.

Source/Read More

Please share this share this content.

• Opens in a new window

You Might Also Like

Tourist industry new zealand, sustainability and covid-19, food producers and pandemics: a mystery shopping analysis.

• Get datasets
• Catalogue guide
• Data toolkit
• Activity Stream

Tourism Satellite Account

These releases provide a picture of the role tourism plays in New Zealand, including the changing levels and impact of tourism activity, and the industry's contribution to the economy. Data for years back to 1995 are available from the source URL (see below).

Data and Resources

• More information
• Go to resource
• expenditure
• foreign exchange
• international
• tourism value

Additional Info

Quick Facts & Figures

Tourism by the numbers.

Key tourism stats for year to March 2022

Total tourism:

• total tourism expenditure was $26.5 billion, an increase of 2.7 percent ($704 million) from the previous year
• tourism generated a direct contribution to GDP of $10 billion, or 3 percent of GDP, an increase of 1.3 percent ($132 million)
• international tourism expenditure increased 30.6 percent ($455 million) to $1.9 billion

Domestic tourism: 

• domestic tourism expenditure increased 1 percent ($249 million) to $24.6 billion
• household tourism expenditure decreased 1.7 percent ($344 million)
• business and government increased 14.2 percent ($593 million)

International tourism: 

• overseas visitor arrivals to New Zealand increased 335.3 percent to 229,370
• international student expenditure (studying less than 12 months) was $184 million, an increase of 135.7 percent ($106 million)
• international tourism’s overall contribution to New Zealand’s total exports of goods and services was 2.4 percent, an increase of 0.4 percentage points
• GST generated from international tourists totalled $209 million, an increase of $72 million

Employment:

• the indirect value added of industries supporting tourism generated an additional $6.6 billion, or 2 percent of GDP
• the number of tourism employees was 125,622 – an increase of 3.2 percent (3,888)
• the number of tourism working proprietors was 19,413 – a decrease of 1.4 percent (267)
• as a share of the total number of people employed in New Zealand, direct tourism employment was 5.2 percent.

Source: Tourism Satellite Account - Year Ended March 2022

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, tourism made a huge contribution to the New Zealand economy

• Total annual tourism expenditure was $41.9 billion  –  $ 115   million per day.  
• Annual international tourism expenditure was $17.5 billion – $ 48   million per day.  
• Annual domestic tourism expenditure was $24.4 billion – $ 67   million per day.  
• Total annual tourism expenditure had increased by almost $15 billion, or 55%, in the past seven years.  
• Tourism was New Zealand’s biggest export industry, contributing 20.1% of total exports.  
• Tourism generated a direct annual contribution to GDP of $16.4 billion, or 5.5%, and a further indirect contribution of $11.3 billion, another 3.8% of New Zealand’s total GDP.   
• 225,384 people are directly and another 158,802 indirectly employed in tourism in New Zealand –   13.6%   of the total number of people employed in New Zealand.  
• The annual GST paid by tourists is $3.9 billion, including $1.8   billion collected from international visitors.   

Source: Statistics NZ  Tourism Satellite Account year ended March 2019 (issued December 2020).  

Other Data Sources

International Travel , Stats NZ

Monthly international travel updates cover the number and characteristics of overseas visitors, and New Zealand resident travellers (short-term movements) entering or leaving New Zealand.

International Visitor Survey  (IVS), MBIE

Estimated annual spend by market, survey based, released quarterly. Does not include Air New Zealand fares or short stay students. Estimates by market can fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter.

Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates ( MRTEs), MBIE

Estimated regional spend by domestic and international markets, electronic transactions based, released monthly. Does not include Air New Zealand fares and other spending captured in the  Tourism Satellite Account . Monthly estimates by region can fluctuate; annual estimates have a higher degree of certainty.

Accommodation Data Programme , MBIE

The Accommodation Data Programme (ADP) provides information about short-term accommodation activity at national, regional and lower levels. It estimates the guest nights, occupancy rates and other measures relating to the accommodation industry.

Thanks to our strategic partners

News & Activity

Thursday, February 29, 2024

New data sees tourism sector move up the ranks as major employer

Elephant Hill Winery, Tākaro Trails Cycle Tours, Hawke's Bay

By Graeme Murray

New Zealand’s tourism sector is supporting communities across New Zealand, directly and indirectly employing 317,514 New Zealanders and providing a critical contribution to our economy.

The annual Tourism Satellite Account released by Statistics New Zealand today shows that $10.8 billion in international visitor spend supported New Zealand’s economy.

Total tourism expenditure was $37.7 billion, an increase of 39.6 percent ($10.7 billion) from the previous year.

“Tourism is a critical contributor to New Zealand’s economy and supports our regions and communities,” says Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive Rene de Monchy.

The data also shows that Tourism is also a major employer, directly and indirectly employing one in 9 New Zealanders.

“During COVID we sadly saw many businesses go under, this included some in the tourism sector. It’s great to see that two years later that 6786 tourism operators are back and providing much need jobs across New Zealand.”

Ngāi Tahu Tourism General Manager Jolanda Cave says being able to welcome back international manuhiri (visitors) to its experiences has been amazing.

“The opportunity to share our Manaakitanga to manuhiri from all regions, particularly China and the United States which are such important markets for New Zealand, and the flow on effect this has had for local communities.”

Tourism second largest export earner

The data positions Tourism as New Zealand’s second largest export earner, playing a significant role supporting the country as it faces tough global conditions, and regions as they recover from other challenges.

Hawke’s Bay Tourism Chief Executive Hamish Saxton says tourism’s contribution to the region’s recovery after Cyclone Gabrielle was critical as it could rebound faster than other sectors and help support communities.

“Hawke’s Bay’s visitor economy rebounded to record its highest ever contribution to the regional GDP, of $775million for the 12months to September 2023. Additionally, numerous accommodation providers in Hawke’s Bay have since recorded their busiest-ever January, with the Accommodation Data Programme showing hotel occupancy in the region at 85 percent and motels at 86 percent for the month.

Head of Destination & Communications at Northland Inc Tania Burt says visitation has returned to pre-pandemic trends.

“With visitation sitting at around 70 per cent domestic and 30 per cent international visitors, there is room for growth in our international arrivals and this is a focus for the region moving forward,” she says.

“In areas of Northland such as the Bay of Islands, local communities have a long history of providing experiences, services and manaakitanga to visitors to their towns, and they embrace the vibrant energy which visitors bring.  The benefit of tourism is widespread to our communities, as visitors travel throughout our region and our reputation for, and exchange of, connection, heartfelt manaaki and local storytelling is growing. The tourism industry currently employs 8% of the Northland workforce, however benefits run much deeper through the cultural exchange and shared experiences for our visitors and communities alike,” she says.

The Challenge Ahead

However, continued tourism levels and growth is not guaranteed.

“The pool of people in our key markets who are actively considering visiting New Zealand has reduced by about 14% since COVID-19. Cost of living pressures, strong competition from other destinations and readiness to travel post pandemic have contributed to this decline,” says de Monchy,

“Tourism New Zealand is working hard to encourage visitation, with a focus on the off-peak months to support the sector increase its year-round productivity and sustainability.”

Prior to global COVID pandemic, Tourism was New Zealand’s largest export earner.

Background:

• View the full data release here (opens in new window)
• Total international visitor arrivals YE March 23: 2.2m
• Total international visitor arrival growth YOY: 858% 
• Total visitor spend growth YOY: 456% 
• Total International visitor spend growth YOY: $10.8
• 1 in 9 New Zealanders employed in the tourism sector
• Top six visitor markets: Australia, China, USA, UK, Germany, Japan 

Let us show you the best of New Zealand on other platforms by selecting 'On' and allowing us to share data from your visit(s) with our partners.

Our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy explain how we use your data and who our partners are.

Your current setting:

In addition to above, we use other cookies and analytics to provide a better site experience. To view cookie details and how to opt-out, please see our Cookie Policy

We use cookies to provide you with a better experience on this site. Keep browsing if you're happy with this.

We also use cookies to show you the best of New Zealand on other platforms. See our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy to understand how you can manage cookies.

Developed by

and fortified by

Tourism Evidence and Insights Centre

Here you'll find insights, data and information about tourism in new zealand. these resources are for anyone wanting to know more about what's happening in the tourism sector - policy makers, tourism businesses and the general public. there are reports, an interactive dashboard and articles addressing common questions., use the navigation buttons above or the links below to navigate:, data releases - find latest tourism data releases., resources - find presentations, articles and reports with insights and research results to help you better understand what's happening in the tourism sector., sustainable tourism explorer - use this interactive platform to explore sustainability-related tourism data., search bar - use keywords to find data releases, resources and explorer pages of your interest., about page - learn about the purpose, history, and development of this tool., questions and requests - if you need something that's not covered here, send us your question or request and we'll get back to you., changes - view the history and development of the site., data releases, latest tourism data, are we missing a dataset please contact us..

See below the list of tourism datasets with release frequency and link to data source.

Dataset name

Link to source

Accommodation Data Programme (ADP)

Exchange rates and Trade Weighted Index (TWI)

International Visitor Survey (IVS)

International Travel

Labour market statistics

Migration statistics, new zealand energy sector greenhouse gas emissions.

New Zealand’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory

Tourism Electronic Card Transactions (TECTs)

Tourism Satellite Account

Accommodation Data Programme

The accommodation data programme (adp) provides information about short-term accommodation activity such as guest nights and occupancy rates., 26-april-2024, international travel, international travel covers the number and characteristics of overseas visitors and new zealand resident travellers (short-term movements) entering or leaving new zealand., 15-april-2024, international visitor survey (rolling annual), the international visitor survey (ivs) measures the expenditure, characteristics and behaviours of international visitors to new zealand., 05-march-2024, international visitor survey (quarterly), tourism satelite account, the tourism satellite account provides a picture of the role tourism plays in new zealand, with information on the changing levels and impact of tourism activity., 29-february-2024, monthly regional tourism estimates, monthly regional tourism estimates (mrtes) - understand tourism spend activity in new zealand., 07-december-2023, tourism recovery dashboard, track the recovery of the tourism sector in near-real time as the borders reopen, using border/visitor arrivals and card spend data., 10-november-2023, statsnz + marketview + sabre, monthly unique regional population estimates, monthly unique local and visitor populations in each rto in aotearoa new zealand, using mobile phone data., 05-october-2023, tourism electronic card transactions, the tects are an interim replacement for the monthly regional tourism estimates (mrtes) to understand tourism spend activity in new zealand., 07-september-2023, new zealand's greenhouse gas inventory, new zealand's greenhouse gas inventory is the official annual estimate of all human-generated greenhouse gas emissions and removals that have occurred in new zealand since 1990., 13-april-2023, ministry for the environment, there are two key sources of migration statistics. immigration new zealand and mbie report information on non-new zealand citizens who apply and come to new zealand on various visas. the international migration statistics produced by stats nz provide a comprehensive picture of the number and characteristics of migrants entering and leaving new zealand., mbie and stats nz, exchange rates and trade weighted index, the trade-weighted index (twi) is a measure of the value of the new zealand dollar (nzd) relative to the currencies of new zealand's major trading partners., reserve bank of new zealand, the labour market statistics information release combines data from surveys to present a broad picture of the labour market., 05-may-2021, the new zealand energy sector greenhouse gas emissions contain the latest provisional estimates of greenhouse gas emissions from the energy sector in new zealand., 11-march-2021, presentations, reports, insights and more, would you like to contribute.

Content selection for the Resources section

This is a collaborative platform to inform industry, government and academia.

If you have any tourism-related content that you think might be of interest, please contact us .

This is the perfect place to store seminars you recorded, presentations from conferences, research articles or even a full article written by you or by your organisation. Once we receive your contact, we will work together to make your content available as soon as possible.

International Visitor Survey - Year end December 2023 and December Q4 2023 Data Release

International visitor survey – year-end december 2023 data shows international visitor spend recovering to pre-pandemic levels.

International Visitor Survey - Year end September 2023 and September Q3 2023 Data Release

A report featuring the 2023 q3 data release for the international visitor survey (ivs)., 04-december-2023, monthly regional tourism estimates - september 2023 data release, a report featuring the the september 2023 data release for the monthly regional tourism estimates., 23-november-2023, adp and murpes - august 2023 data release, a report summarising the findings from the august 2023 adp and murpes data., tects, adp, and murpes - july 2023 data release, a report summarising the findings from the july 2023 tects, adp, and murpes data., tects, adp, and murpes - june 2023 data release, a report summarising the findings from the june 2023 tects, adp, and murpes data., 03-august-2023, tects, adp, and murpes - may 2023 data release, a report summarising the findings from the may 2023 tects, adp, and murpes data., 06-july-2023, public pulse of conservation - june 2023 report, a report summarising the findings from the june 2023 wave of doc's public pulse of conservation., 23-june-2023.

Department of Conservation

Tects, adp, and murpes - april 2023 data release, a report summarising the findings from the april 2023 tects, adp, and murpes data., 01-june-2023, public pulse of conservation - may 2023 report, a report summarising the findings from the may 2023 wave of doc's public pulse of conservation., 24-may-2023, tects, adp, and murpes - march 2023 data release, a report summarising the findings from the march 2023 tects, adp, and murpes data., 04-may-2023, public pulse of conservation - april 2023 report, a report summarising the findings from the april 2023 wave of doc's public pulse of conservation., 02-may-2023, public pulse of conservation - march 2023 report, a report summarising the findings from the march 2023 wave of doc's public pulse of conservation., 24-march-2023, public pulse of conservation - february 2023 report, a report summarising the findings from the february 2023 wave of doc's public pulse of conservation., 24-february-2023, public pulse of conservation - january 2023 report, a report summarising the findings from the january 2023 wave of doc's public pulse of conservation., 23-january-2023, public pulse of conservation - december 2022 report, a report summarising the findings from the december 2022 wave of doc's public pulse of conservation., 22-december-2022, tourism recovery insights data pack - 6 december, monthly commentary and insights from the latest high-frequency real-time data from the tourism recovery dashboard., 06-december-2022.

Public Pulse of Conservation - November 2022 report

A report summarising the findings from the november 2022 wave of doc's public pulse of conservation., 29-november-2022, tourism recovery insights data pack - 8 november, 08-november-2022, public pulse of conservation - october 2022 report, a report summarising the findings from the october 2022 wave of doc's public pulse of conservation., 21-october-2022, tourism recovery insights data pack - 18 october, 18-october-2022, public pulse of conservation - september 2022 report, a report summarising the findings from the september 2022 wave of doc's public pulse of conservation., 28-september-2022, giving back to nature - insights from the queen charlotte track, a report from doc providing insights into the walking experience of visitors on queen charlotte track, focusing on why visitors walk the track, how they connect with nature, and what ‘giving back’ to conservation means., 22-september-2022, tourism recovery insights data pack - 12 september, 12-september-2022, public pulse of conservation - august 2022 report, a report summarising the findings from the august 2022 wave of doc's public pulse of conservation., 31-august-2022, tourism recovery insights data pack - 30 august, commentary and insights from the latest high-frequency real-time data from the tourism recovery dashboard., 30-august-2022, tourism recovery insights data pack - 16 august, 16-august-2022, tourism recovery insights data pack - 2 august, 02-august-2022, public pulse of conservation - july 2022 report, a report summarising the findings from the july 2022 wave of doc's public pulse of conservation., 26-july-2022, tourism recovery insights data pack - 19 july, 19-july-2022, tourism recovery insights data pack - 5 july, 05-july-2022, tourism recovery insights data pack - 23 june, 23-june-2022, indigenous data sovereignty – why does it matter, amanda lee shares her point of view and knowledge about indigenous data sovereignty., 29-april-2022.

Ka mua, ka muri - Looking forward to the border reopening by looking back at tourism data

As the border reopens, the tourism evidence and insights team at hīkina whakatutuki - mbie looks back at what tourism data can tell us about the present and future state of the tourism sector., 14-april-2022, tourism electronic card transaction spend for february 2022 released, analysis of domestic and international tourist electronic card spend for february 2022., 07-april-2022, accommodation data programme for february 2022 released, insights from accommodation data for february 2022 as the sector grapples with the omicron outbreak., 25-march-2022, tourism electronic card transaction spend for january 2022 released, analysis of domestic and international tourist electronic card spend for january 2022., 03-march-2022, accommodation data programme for january 2022 released, insights from accommodation data for january 2022 as the sector recovers from the delta outbreak., 28-february-2022, tourism electronic card transaction spend for december 2021 released, analysis of domestic and international tourist electronic card spend for december 2021., 17-february-2022, accommodation data programme for december 2021 released, core accommodation data results from the adp for december 2021., 11-february-2022, tourism electronic card transaction spend for november 2021 released, domestic and international spend from electronic card transactions for november 2021., 20-january-2022, accommodation data programme for november 2021 released, core accommodation data from the adp for november 2021., 22-december-2021, international recognition for tourism sustainability commitment, a new zealand program that supports tourism operators to become more sustainable has gained international recognition., 21-december-2021.

Tourism Industry Aotearoa

Stakeholder perspectives of the future of accessible tourism in new zealand, this research paper provides insights on the scope of accessible tourism in new zealand, and supports its future., 17-december-2021.

Tourism For All NZ

Improving the accessibility of the tourism industry in new zealand, understanding the expectations and experiences of accessibility in tourism, in order to suggest improvements to the tourism sector., tourism satellite account for year-ended march 2021 released, information on tourism's contribution to the new zealand economy in terms of expenditure and employment., 10-december-2021, tourism electronic card transaction spend for october 2021 released, domestic and international spend from electronic card transactions for october 2021., 02-december-2021, tourism electronic card transaction spend for september 2021 released, domestic and international spend from electronic card transactions for september 2021., 02-november-2021, tourism insights users group, find the meeting agenda and watch a full replay of the whole recorded zoom session., 27-october-2021, tourism electronic card transaction spend for august 2021 released, domestic and international spend from electronic card transactions for august 2021., 06-october-2021, tourism electronic card transaction spend for july 2021 released, domestic and international spend from electronic card transactions for july 2021., 01-september-2021, tourism electronic card transaction spend for june 2021 released, domestic and international spend from electronic card transactions for june 2021., 05-august-2021, 14-july-2021, tourism electronic card transaction spend for may 2021 released, domestic and international spend from electronic card transactions for may 2021., 01-july-2021, trans-tasman quarantine free travel datapack, datapacks mbie produces to inform the minister of tourism., 01-june-2021, recovery intel report, the recovery intel report tells the story of our district pre-covid-19, the impact of the level 4 lockdown and the emerging impact in relation to economic predictions., 01-april-2021.

Queentown Lakes District Council

Domestic satisfaction report, results for year ending december 2020., 25-february-2021.

Not 100% – but four steps closer to sustainable tourism

Parliamentary commissioner for the environment, simon upton, is urging for a substantially smaller environmental footprint., 18-february-2021.

Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment

The department of conservation’s heritage and visitor strategy, it guides doc's work to protect and enhance the values of new zealand’s natural, cultural and historic heritage., 17-february-2021.

Department Of Conservation

Mrtes and the tects, the tourism electronic card transactions (tects) replace the monthly regional tourism estimates (mrtes) in the interim., 04-february-2021, impact of the covid-19 pandemic on intentions to travel among usa consumers, survey results., 21-january-2021.

Tourism New Zealand

Impact of the covid-19 pandemic on intentions to travel among australia consumers, evaluation of the new zealand cycle trail - counter data analysis, 2020, an evaluation of the counter data of the 22 great rides of ngā haerenga new zealand cycle trails was conducted over 12 months from 1 march 2019 to 28 february 2020., 22-december-2020, covid-19 tourism industry survey, tourism industry aotearoa's latest industry survey results., 17-november-2020, new zealanders in the outdoors survey, domestic customer segmentation research., 21-september-2020, fewer women working in tourism industries, 21-august-2020.

Time for Reset? Covid-19 and Tourism Resilience

Scientific article., 21-may-2020.

Tourism Review International

Covid-19, indigenous peoples and tourism: a view from new zealand.

Tourism Geographies

Pandemics, tourism and global change: a rapid assessment of covid-19.

Journal of Sustainable Tourism

Quarterly tourism report, see what happened in the tourism space in the first quarter of 2019., 18-june-2019, calculating year-ended figures in the mrtes, calculate mrte year-end figures for any historic month., higher-spending visitors in the ivs, understand the characteristics of visitors who spend higher amounts per day while in new zealand., 05-june-2019, summary of quarter december 2018., 07-march-2019, why do the mrtes get revised, find out more about mrte revisions., 20-february-2019, how can i estimate tourism spend per visitor, calculating spend per visitor in new zealand., 04-february-2019, overview of tourism spend in new zealand, how to estimate tourism spend in new zealand., 15-january-2019, petrol prices are affecting visitor spend across new zealand., 10-december-2018, haven't found what you were looking for, send us your question or request.

An official website of the United States government

The Journal of the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis

• Articles by Date
• Articles by Subject
• Infographics
• Research Spotlights

U.S. Travel and Tourism Satellite Account for 2018–2022

By Hunter Arcand and Paul Kern  |  April 29, 2024

Download PDF

The travel and tourism industry—as measured by the real output of goods and services sold directly to visitors—increased 21.0 percent in 2022 after increasing 53.6 percent in 2021, according to statistics released today by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). 1 By comparison, the broader economy, as measured by real gross domestic product (GDP), increased 1.9 percent in 2022 after increasing 5.8 percent in 2021.

BEA released new national-level travel and tourism statistics for 2022, with updated statistics from 2017 to 2021. These new and revised statistics primarily reflect the incorporation of source data from the 2023 comprehensive update of BEA’s National Economic Accounts. Improved Estimates of the National Economic Accounts: Results of the 2023 Comprehensive Update ,” Survey of Current Business (November 2023)."> 2 Combined with new and revised tourism-specific source data, these improvements allow BEA's Travel and Tourism Satellite Account (TTSA) to capture the dynamics of this sector more accurately. In addition, the reference year for the chained-dollar estimates is updated to 2017 from 2012.

Highlights from the TTSA include the following:

• As the industry continued to recover from the COVID–19 pandemic, travel and tourism's share of GDP increased from 2.76 percent in 2021 to 2.97 percent in 2022 (table A).
• The travel and tourism industry's real output increased $197.1 billion in 2022 but has not fully recovered from the pandemic. Travel and tourism's real output for 2022 was 94.2 percent of its 2019 level (table B).
• In 2022, real output increased for 22 of 24 commodities. The largest contributors to the increase were domestic passenger air transportation services, international passenger air transportation services, and gasoline.
• Prices for travel and tourism goods and services increased 12.2 percent in 2022 after increasing 6.9 percent in 2021. The largest contributors to the increase were domestic passenger air transportation services, gasoline, and shopping (table C).
• The TTSA is available on the BEA website; see the box “ Data Availability .”

The remainder of this article includes a discussion of trends in travel and tourism output, prices, value added, and employment.

Trends in Output and Prices

Real output.

Travel and tourism real output increased 21.0 percent in 2022. The largest contributors were domestic passenger air transportation services, gasoline, international passenger air transportation services, and traveler accommodations (table B and chart 1). The increases reflect the continued recovery of the travel and tourism industry after the COVID–19 pandemic.

[View larger chart]

Travel and tourism prices accelerated in 2022, increasing 12.2 percent after increasing 6.9 percent in 2021, with prices of 20 of 24 commodities contributing to the increase (table C and chart 2). The acceleration was led by increases in domestic passenger air transportation services, gasoline, and shopping.

Total output

Total tourism-related current-dollar, or nominal, output increased to $2.32 trillion in 2022, up from $1.72 trillion in 2021. In 2022, total output consisted of $1.36 trillion in direct tourism output and $963 billion in indirect tourism output. The 1.71 ratio of total output to direct output in 2022 means that every dollar of direct tourism output requires an additional 71 cents of indirect tourism output (chart 3).

Direct tourism output includes goods and services sold directly to visitors, such as passenger air travel. Indirect tourism output includes sales of all goods and services used to produce that direct output, such as jet fuel to fly the plane and catering services for longer flights.

Tourism Value Added and Employment

Value added.

A sector's value added measures its share of GDP. The travel and tourism industry's share of GDP was 2.97 percent in 2022, 2.76 percent in 2021, and 2.15 in 2020 (table A). This pattern indicates that travel and tourism industries contracted and expanded disproportionately to non-travel and tourism industries during the COVID–19 pandemic and that travel and tourism industries are still slightly below pre-COVID–19 levels.

Direct employment

Direct tourism employment refers to jobs that are directly related to visitor spending on goods and services. Airline pilots, hotel clerks, and travel agents are examples of such employees. Overall, direct employment increased by 1.0 million jobs in 2022 after increasing by 1.3 million jobs in 2021. This was after decreasing by 2.9 million jobs in 2020. The largest contributors to the 2022 increase were traveler accommodations, which gained 244,000 jobs; food services and drinking places, which gained 213,000 jobs; and shopping, which gained 176,000 jobs (chart 4 and table D).

Total employment

Total tourism-related employment (the sum of direct and indirect jobs) increased to 9.4 million jobs in 2022 from 8.9 million jobs in 2021. The 9.4 million jobs consisted of 6.6 million direct tourism jobs and 2.8 million indirect tourism jobs (chart 5). While direct tourism employment includes jobs that produce direct tourism output, such as airline pilots, indirect tourism employment is generated by the businesses that supply goods and services to the tourism sector, such as refinery workers producing jet fuel. Data for 2022 indicate that for every 100 jobs supported directly by the travel and tourism industry, an additional 42 indirect tourism jobs are also required.

• All measures of travel and tourism activity not identified as being in “real,” inflation-adjusted terms are current-dollar, or nominal, estimates.
• For more, information see “ Improved Estimates of the National Economic Accounts: Results of the 2023 Comprehensive Update ,” Survey of Current Business (November 2023).

Subscribe to the SCB

The Survey of Current Business is published by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Guidelines for citing BEA information.

Survey of Current Business

bea.gov/scb [email protected]

• Share full article

Advertisement

Supported by

Flooding in a Kenyan Natural Reserve Forces Tourist Evacuation

The heavy rains that pounded East Africa for weeks, killing hundreds, have spilled into the Masai Mara, one of Africa’s greatest wildlife national reserves.

By Mohamed Ahmed and Emma Bubola

Mohamed Ahmed reported from Mombasa, Kenya, and Emma Bubola from London.

Devastating floods that have killed hundreds of people and displaced tens of thousands more in East Africa are now inundating parts of the Masai Mara, one of Africa’s greatest wildlife national reserves.

On Wednesday, the Telek River broke its banks and overflowed into parts of the natural reserve, flooding many tourist camps. A spokesman for the Kenyan Red Cross, Munir Ahmed, said that more than 90 people have been evacuated, some by helicopter. Others fled through the water.

“The situation in Masai Mara is so bad,” said Daniel Ikayo, the owner of a safari company that operates there. “There is water everywhere.”

The floods in the reserve have added to the heavy damage to key economic resources in Kenya, including livestock, crops and infrastructure.

“We are seeing a disaster unfold,” said Bryan Adkins, who heads a trust that helps protect the Kijabe forest, which has also been decimated by the floods.

Only part of Masai Mara has been affected, said Mohammed Hersi, director of a safari company and the former chairman of the Kenya tourism federation. But Alfred Mutua, the country’s tourism minister, warned on Wednesday that all hotels and camps near rivers and within national parks and reserves should prepare for potential evacuation in case rivers overflow.

Kenya’s long rainy season, which runs from April until June, is not a prime time for tourism, but those who are there now have found their plans upended. “People don’t want to come here to drive around in a lake,” Mr. Adkins said.

The Telek River lies across the “ Great Migration ” route from the Serengeti in Tanzania to the Masai Mara, and from July to October, over a million wildebeests and zebras cross over — an event that attracts thousands of tourists from all over the world.

On Monday, flash floods sent a deluge of muddy water over an area in the Rift Valley region in southern Kenya, killing at least 45 people, sweeping away houses and damaging roads. In total, 179 people have died in Kenya since the flooding begun, and many more have been killed across the whole of East Africa. The floods were particularly deadly in neighboring Tanzania.

With the rains expected to continue, Kenya’s presidential office on Wednesday issued an evacuation order to people residing in risk areas — near, for instance, rivers, dams and reservoirs — to evacuate within 48 hours. Over 30,000 people have already been displaced.

Mr. Ahmed, of the Red Cross, said that in total, 45 roads and over 370 water sources had been destroyed, and over 600 businesses and 35,000 acres of crops affected. People who lived off small businesses, like avocado farms or tractor businesses, lost their livelihoods, local residents said.

What the final economic impact of this year’s inundations might be is unclear, but according to a recent report by the African Climate Foundation , climate-change-related events like floods and droughts led to losses of 3 to 5 percent of the country’s gross domestic product from 2010 to 2020.

According to the report, the frequency and intensity of such events is likely to increase.

Forecasters with the Kenya meteorological department warned on Wednesday about “a surge in rainfall intensity across multiple regions of the country from Thursday through the weekend.”

Judson Jones contributed reporting from New York.

Emma Bubola is a Times reporter based in London, covering news across Europe and around the world. More about Emma Bubola

Explore Our Weather Coverage

Extreme Weather Maps: Track the possibility of extreme weather in the places that are important to you .

Tornado Alerts: A tornado warning demands instant action. Here’s what to do if one comes your way .

Climate Change: What’s causing global warming? How can we fix it? Our F.A.Q. tackles your climate questions big and small .

Evacuating Pets: When disaster strikes, household pets’ lives are among the most vulnerable. You can avoid the worst by planning ahead .