inbound and outbound tourism means

What is Inbound and Outbound Tourism?

by Hammad Ur Rehman | Oct 25, 2021 | Travel Guide | 6 comments

Don’t you just love traveling around the world and exploring different places? Staying or visiting different countries or states for the sake of fun-filled holidays or work-related visits, are termed tourism. Tourism can be of two types, Inbound tourism or Outbound Tourism. Now the question arises that what is inbound and outbound tourism?

Well, the difference between the two is just a matter of perspective, that is, from where and how you see it. In simple words, if we look from the USA tourism perspective, the outbound tourism would be Robert going to Pakistan, while inbound tourism would be, Ali coming to the USA. Similarly, if we look from a Pakistani tourism perspective, the outbound tourism would be Ali going to the USA, and the inbound tourism would be, Robert coming to Pakistan.

Let’s move on and further elaborate on these two types of tourism.

What is Inbound tourism?

Inbound tourism is economically significant for a country. The tourist countries economically rely on the inbound visitors to drive their maintenance, growth, and development.

What exactly is inbound tourism? In easy words, you can call it incoming tourism. Let’s move further to see the definitions, meanings, significance, drawbacks, and examples of inbound tourism.

Definition of inbound tourism

When someone travels to a country, other than their own country, for tourism, this is called inbound tourism.

Inbound tourism is frequently influenced by certain factors like:

• Season or Weather
• Public holidays
• School’s summer or winter vacations

According to WTO (World Trade Organization) and UN (United States Nation), inbound tourism can be defined as follows:

“ The act of traveling to another country for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business, or other purposes .”

Importance of inbound tourism

Through foreign exchange, tourism may bring a lot of wealth into a country. This is especially advantageous in places where the local exchange rate is cheaper as compared to visitors’ native currency. Therefore, inbound tourism has high significance in many countries mainly because of the benefits it provides economically.

Mostly, countries target specific nations for advertising and promoting their inbound tourism. For instance, in today’s era, Chinese people tend to spend more on traveling every year as compared to any other nation, plus, the greatest outbound tourism markets are also produced by China. Therefore, Chinese inbound tourists are highly in demand by many tourist countries.

Drawbacks of inbound tourism

Depending entirely on income from the inbound tourism may cause problems. There are many places like Maldives, Goa, Fairy meadows, Greece, etc., whose economies rely on tourists from other countries.

The primary drawback of inbound tourism is that the place is at the hands of the transportation network. Many tourism industries have been ravaged as a result of airlines ceasing to operate a specific route. Cultural conflicts can also take place due to inbound tourism.

Some other disadvantages of inbound tourism include:

• Disposal, contamination, and emissions are all on the rise.
• Environmental and aquatic habitats are being physically harmed on a daily basis.
• Inappropriate buildings are being built next to historical places and monuments.
• Plenty of resources are being used up.
• Building infrastructure and utilization of land.

Inbound Tourism examples

Now that we have a basic understanding of inbound tourism, let’s look at some practical examples.

If a person from one country travels to another country for tourism, then it’s an inbound tourist. For example, Ali is having a summer break from his university and wants to go abroad. So, he decides to go for tourism to France and enjoys his summer break there. This is an example of inbound tourism because Ali is coming from Pakistan to France for his vacation, and it is a tourist activity for him.

Likewise, Robert is also having a summer break from his school and wants to visit another country. So, he decides to go for tourism to Pakistan and enjoys his summer break there. This is also an example of inbound tourism because Robert is coming from America to Pakistan for his vacation, and it’s a tourist activity for him.

Generally, some of the countries that are renowned for inbound tourism include Maldives, Goa, Greece, etc.

What is outbound tourism?

Leaving your homeland for the sake of gaining international tourism experience has wide importance for many countries.

Let’s jump into detail and find out what is outbound tourism, how do we define it, the importance of outbound tourism has it got any disadvantages, and a few examples of outbound tourism.

Definition of outbound tourism

When a tourist travels or visits outside his or her country for the sake of tourism, but not for more than a year. This type of tourism is called outbound tourism.

The WTO (World Trade Organization) and UN (United States Nation) define outbound tourism as follows, “The act of leaving your home country internationally for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business or other purposes.”

Throughout the years, the market for outbound tourism has grown significantly. However, different regions of the world have different growth rates of the tourism market, but the factors leading to progress are similar.

Importance of outbound tourism

Outbound tourism also has a positive impact on the economy of the county. It provides economic improvements in a variety of industries such as education, healthcare, business, and retail, etc.

For example, the more people travel to foreign nations, the more their demands for products and services increase. Thus, it is a source of economic growth and prosperity for many countries.

This direction of tourism helps in increasing employment opportunities, foreign currency earnings, and trade balance. Thus, it is a source of economic growth and prosperity for many countries.

Within a very short period, China has become the largest source of outbound tourists. The increasing number of Chinese outbound tourists opens the gate of opportunities for tour group operating companies, hotels, national government ad retailers.

Drawbacks of outbound tourism

Apart from the advantages, there are a few disadvantages of outbound tourism as well. These drawbacks include the following:

• Many outbound tourists spend a huge amount of money on international chains like KFC fast-food chains, which reduces the positive effects of tourism as the tourist is using money that has been taken out of his residence.
• ·Sometimes, a country relies far too much on its outbound tourism market. For example, some Caribbean island nations depend on money from tourists to fund their entire economy and government, but this is a risky move as the tourism market is highly inconsistent, and a small incident can lead to a large drop in tourism.

Outbound tourism examples

Let’s go through an example of outbound tourism from the USA point of view:

John is a US citizen and has a passport to the USA. He wants to go for tourism so he can explore the international culture and experience new things. So, he goes for a tour to Spain with his family and friends. This is an example of outbound tourism because John has applied for a tourist visa and is traveling outside his country, USA.

Another example of outbound tourism from Spain’s perspective:

Robert is a tourist from Spain who wants to go for tourism in the USA, but he has no American visa. So, he goes for a tour to the UK with his family and friends. This is an example of outbound tourism because Robert has applied for a tourist visa and is traveling outside his country, Spain.

What is domestic tourism?

Until here, we discussed international inbound and outbound tourism. However, tourism can also be domestic. Now you would want to ask what is domestic tourism ?

Well, it’s very simple. In domestic tourism, the tourist visits different regions, cities, or towns of the same country where he/she resides. In easy words, domestic tourism is vacations spent within the same country you live in.

Let me give you an example of domestic tourism, Sarah lives in California, USA, and for her vacations, she visits Pennsylvania, USA.

Domestic tourism is used by the government to eradicate poverty, economic development, production of employments, infrastructure upgrades, reduce the load from overcrowding. For instance, If the government of California promotes domestic tourism within its state, then more people would come to visit various places in California, which are less popular, and it would boost the economy of California by providing employment opportunities to the people.

Also Learn: Domestic vs International Travel

Final Thoughts

In general, tourism contributes significantly to international trade and the provision of job opportunities in many nations. I hope this article has provided you with a clear picture of what are the types of tourism and why are they significant. All types of tourism are important for the economic growth of any nation.

Check our article on: What is FIT And GIT in The Tourism

Very helpful and very interesting

Nice Post. very well written and very impressive

My sister bookmarked this webpage for me and I have been going through it for the past several hours. This is really going to benefit me and my friends for our class project. By the way, I like the way you write.

Good day I am so happy I found your web site, I really found you by accident, while I was searching on Digg for something else, Anyhow I am here now and would just like to say kudos for a marvelous post and a all round interesting blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to read through it all at the minute but I have book-marked it and also included your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read a great deal more, Please do keep up the fantastic work.

I am so happy i have many to questions to answer travel and tourism and I can easily learnt tourism ?

I aam actually glad to gance att his blog poswts which contains plenty off helpful information, thanks for providin these statistics.

Submit a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

• Destinations (7)
• Resorts (1)
• Uncategorized (13)

Recent Posts

• Is Traveling a Hobby? (Learn About Travelling as a Hobby)
• Why is Traveling so Tiring?
• Why is Traveling Important? (9 Reasons Why It’s Important)
• 9 Things to Do Before Your Vacation
• How to Overcome Jet Lag Fast

What is outbound tourism and why is it important?

Disclaimer: Some posts on Tourism Teacher may contain affiliate links. If you appreciate this content, you can show your support by making a purchase through these links or by buying me a coffee . Thank you for your support!

Outbound tourism is an important type of tourism . Many countries rely heavily on travellers leaving their home country in search of an international tourism experience.

But what does it actually mean to be an outbound tourist? In this article I will explain what is meant by the term outbound tourism, provide definitions of outbound tourism and I will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of outbound tourism. Lastly, I will provide examples of destinations which have significantly sized outbound tourism markets.

What is outbound tourism?

Outbound tourism definitions, the advent of low cost travel, increased disposable income and leisure time, globalisation, the importance of outbound tourism, the growth of the chinese outbound tourism industry, positive impacts of outbound tourism, negative impacts of outbound tourism, the value of outbound tourism to the uk, outbound tourism: conclusion, further reading.

Outbound tourism is the act of travelling ‘out’ of your home country for the purposes of tourism.

Outbound tourism does not include the purchasing of good or services before or after the trip within the tourism generating country.

To learn more about what a ‘tourism generating country’ is, read my post about Leiper’s Tourism System .

The terms outbound tourism and inbound tourism are often used interchangeably.

This is because a tourist who is travelling internationally is both an outbound tourist (because they travel OUT of their home country) and an inbound tourist (because they travel IN to another country).

The only exception to this would be if a person was travelling on a multi-centre trip, for example a backpacker. This is because they are not necessarily travelling from their home country.

The most widely utilised definition of tourism , proposed by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and United States (UN) Nations Statistics Division (1994), prescribes that in order to qualify as a tourist one must travel and remain in a place outside of their usual residential environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business or other purposes.

When considering outbound tourism, it therefore makes sense to simply add in the prerequisite of leaving your home country country…

Based on this commonly accepted definition (although this is not without its limits- see this post for more details ), therefore, outbound tourism can be defined as:

‘The act of leaving your home country to travel internationally for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business or other purposes.’

Some other organisations have also offered definitions for the term outbound tourism.

The European Union define outbound tourism as:

‘Visits by residents of a country outside that country’.

Similarly, Visit Britain state that outbound tourism is:

‘The activities of a resident visitor outside of their country of residence’.

The growth of outbound tourism

The outbound tourism market has grown considerably throughout the years.

Of course, the outbound tourist market has grown at different rates in different parts of the world, but the reasons for this growth are largely the same.

Three of the biggest factors contributing to the growth of outbound tourism are: the advent of low cost travel, increases in disposable income and leisure time and globalisation.

The past two decades have seen significant developments in the history of tourism .

Increased competition within the marketplace and the introduction of low cost airlines has meant that more of us are able to travel more often.

In recent years the amount of disposable income that the average person has each year has increased. This means that people have more money to spend on international tourism .

People also have more leisure time than they used to. Paid holidays and increased flexibility as a result of flexi-time practices at work, means that people have more opportunities for international tourism than they did in the past.

Other posts that you might be interested in: – What is tourism? A definition of tourism – The history of tourism – The structure of the tourism industry – Stakeholders in tourism – Inbound tourism explained: What, why and where – What is ABTA and how does it work? – The economic impacts of tourism

More people want to experience outbound tourism nowadays than ever before. Globalisation has opened up many opportunities for us around the world.

Many destinations that were not previously accessible have opened up and subsequently developed their tourism industries.

Click here to learn more about globalisation and its impact on the tourism industry!

Outbound tourism is hugely important to many countries around the world. The OECD have a handy tool on their website which demonstrates the value of this tourism in different parts of the world.

Outbound tourism has many positive economic impacts that reaches further than just the tourism industry. Outbound tourism can help to enhance the economies of many countries by providing economic boosts in a range of sectors such as retail, healthcare and education.

Many countries, however, rely too much on outbound tourism. Should there be a reason that tourism declines, for example during the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic, a country’s economy could face dire consequences if they do not diversify their income.

A major recent development in the tourism industry is the growth of Chinese outbound tourism.

Today, China is the largest outbound tourism market in the world.

Chinese tourists spent more than $288billion on international travel in 2018, which equates to a whooping 25% of global tourism spend . It is predicted that Chinese tourists will take 160 million overseas trips by 2020.

This growth is largely attributed to rising incomes amongst Chinese workers and new freedoms allowed to the population . Many countries around the world now offer simpler and easy to obtain visas for Chinese citizens than they did in previous years.

This has resulted in a boom in Chinese outbound tourism. Whilst Chinese tourists travel all over the world, markets in Asian countries such as Thailand and Bali have seen particular increases in overall tourism numbers as a result.

Chinese tourists typically spend significantly more money when they travel than tourists from other countries. This means that the Chinese outbound tourism market is particularly welcomes in many destinations around the world.

Outbound tourism can be beneficial for both the traveller generating region and the tourist destination region .

In the tourist’s home country, outbound tourism can help to boost the economy. If tourists use a local operator to organise their travel arrangements, such as the national airline or a domestic travel agent, then some of the profits made will be retained in the home country.

When the tourist reaches their holiday destination there are many economic advantages to the host destination. The graph below by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) outlines the areas that profit the most from outbound tourism.

Foreign exchange income can be particularly beneficial in destinations where the currency is weak. Many destinations focus their marketing efforts in countries that have strong currencies, such as the UK, USA or Europe.

Another positive impact of outbound tourism is that income from tourism can be used to help boost the wider economy. Money can be reinvested in areas such as healthcare and education.

There are two major economic impacts that can have a negative effect on the destination.

The first is economic leakage in tourism . Outbound tourists often seek the familiar and may choose to spend their money in large chain organisations such as a Hilton Hotel or a McDonalds fast food restaurant. This causes money to be taken out of the tourist destination region, thus limiting the positive impacts from tourism.

The second is over dependence. If a destination relies too heavily on their outbound tourism industry, they could come into trouble should this be disrupted.

Disruptions to the tourism industry occur frequently around the world. Reasons include natural disasters, political unrest, economic instability and pandemics.

You can read about the economic impacts of tourism in more detail here.

According to the ONS, outbound tourism is a significant market in the UK, accounting for 1.8% of GDP.

The outbound tourism sector accounts for more than 221,000 jobs in the United Kingdom.

The economic contribution of UK outbound tourism equates to £37.1 billion.

The graph below indicates which destinations UK outbound tourists are choosing to travel to, with Spain being the most popular.

Outbound tourism is an important part of the structure of the tourism industry . Many countries rely heavily on outbound tourist markets and outbound tourism is a significant economic contributor. The outbound tourism market has grown and developed throughout the years, with the most significant and rapidly emerging market being the Chinese.

• An Introduction to Tourism : a comprehensive and authoritative introduction to all facets of tourism including: the history of tourism; factors influencing the tourism industry; tourism in developing countries; sustainable tourism; forecasting future trends.
• The Business of Tourism Management : an introduction to key aspects of tourism, and to the practice of managing a tourism business.
• Tourism Management: An Introduction : gives its reader a strong understanding of the dimensions of tourism, the industries of which it is comprised, the issues that affect its success, and the management of its impact on destination economies, environments and communities.

Liked this article? Click to share!

Understanding Inbound Tourism: A Comprehensive Guide

Welcome to the world of travel and tourism, where the concept of inbound tourism plays a crucial role in shaping the industry. In this comprehensive guide, we will delve deep into the definition, significance, trends, and impact of inbound tourism on destinations around the globe. Whether you are a seasoned travel professional or an enthusiastic traveler, understanding inbound tourism is essential to grasp the dynamics of the travel industry.

What is Inbound Tourism?

Inbound tourism refers to the act of traveling to a destination by individuals who are not residents of that destination. In simpler terms, it involves tourists visiting a country or region that is different from their place of origin. This form of tourism encompasses a wide range of activities, including sightseeing, cultural exploration, leisure travel, business trips, and more.

One of the key characteristics of inbound tourism is that it involves foreign visitors who contribute to the economy of the destination they are visiting. These visitors bring in revenue through various means such as accommodation, dining, transportation, shopping, and other tourism-related activities. Inbound tourism is a significant driver of economic growth and development for many countries, making it a vital component of the global tourism industry.

The Significance of Inbound Tourism

Inbound tourism plays a pivotal role in the economic, social, and cultural development of destinations worldwide. Here are some key reasons why inbound tourism is significant:

• Economic Impact: Inbound tourism generates revenue for the host destination through spending on accommodations, food, transportation, and other services. This revenue contributes to the local economy, creates jobs, and supports small businesses.
• Cultural Exchange: Inbound tourism promotes cultural exchange and understanding between different countries and cultures. Tourists have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the local customs, traditions, and way of life, fostering mutual respect and appreciation.
• Infrastructure Development: The influx of foreign tourists often leads to improvements in infrastructure such as airports, roads, hotels, and attractions. These developments benefit both tourists and local residents, enhancing the overall quality of life in the destination.
• Promotion of Heritage and Natural Resources: Inbound tourism can help raise awareness about the importance of preserving heritage sites, natural landscapes, and wildlife. Tourists often visit destinations to experience their unique cultural and natural attractions, creating incentives for conservation efforts.

Trends in Inbound Tourism

The landscape of inbound tourism is constantly evolving, influenced by changing consumer preferences, technological advancements, global events, and economic factors. Here are some notable trends shaping the world of inbound tourism:

• Emerging Destinations: As travelers seek new and authentic experiences, emerging destinations are gaining popularity among tourists. These destinations offer unique attractions, cultural heritage, and natural beauty, attracting visitors looking for off-the-beaten-path experiences.
• Digital Transformation: The rise of digital platforms and online booking systems has transformed the way travelers research, plan, and book their trips. Online travel agencies, review websites, and social media influencers play a significant role in shaping travelers' decisions and preferences.
• Sustainable Tourism: There is a growing emphasis on sustainable tourism practices that minimize the environmental impact of travel and support local communities. Eco-friendly accommodations, responsible tour operators, and conservation initiatives are becoming increasingly important for travelers seeking ethical travel experiences.
• Personalized Experiences: Travelers are increasingly looking for personalized and customized experiences that cater to their interests and preferences. From tailored itineraries to unique accommodations, the demand for personalized travel experiences is driving innovation in the tourism industry.

The Impact of Inbound Tourism

The impact of inbound tourism extends beyond economic benefits, influencing various aspects of destination development and community well-being. Here are some key areas where inbound tourism has a significant impact:

• Employment Opportunities: Inbound tourism creates job opportunities in sectors such as hospitality, transportation, retail, and tour operations. These jobs provide income for local residents and contribute to the overall prosperity of the destination.
• Cultural Preservation: Tourism can help preserve and promote the cultural heritage of a destination by showcasing traditional crafts, performing arts, cuisine, and festivals. Cultural tourism initiatives support local artisans, performers, and cultural institutions, preserving traditions for future generations.
• Infrastructure Development: The demand from tourists drives investments in infrastructure projects such as airports, roads, public transportation, and tourist facilities. These developments benefit both tourists and local residents, improving accessibility and quality of life.
• Environmental Conservation: Sustainable tourism practices promote the protection of natural resources, wildlife habitats, and ecosystems. Responsible tourism initiatives aim to minimize the environmental footprint of travel activities and raise awareness about conservation efforts.

Inbound tourism is a dynamic and multifaceted aspect of the global travel industry, influencing economies, cultures, and communities around the world. By understanding the definition, significance, trends, and impact of inbound tourism, stakeholders in the travel industry can make informed decisions and contribute to sustainable tourism development. As the world continues to evolve, inbound tourism will play a vital role in shaping the future of travel and creating memorable experiences for travelers worldwide.

Upgrade Your Account

Select currency... eur €2.75/month (free 7-day trial) gbp £2.30/month (free 7-day trial) inr ₹199/month (free 7-day trial) usd $2.99/month (free 7-day trial).

• Unlimited Custom Itineraries for Trips up to 20 Days See Example
• Full access to extra itinerary information
• Customized Restaurant Lists For Your Itineraries
• Private Itineraries
• No Advertisements
• Standard Customer Support

Select Currency... EUR €4.49/month (Free 7-Day Trial) GBP £3.99/month (Free 7-Day Trial) INR ₹299/month (Free 7-Day Trial) USD $4.99/month (Free 7-Day Trial)

• Unlimited Custom Itineraries for Trips up to 30 Days See Example
• Latest AI For The Most Up To Date Info (As of April 2023)
• Priority Customer Support

"This is so awesome! We hired a travel agent for $200 and your AI just spit out almost exactly the same itinerary the agent planned for our honeymoon in Greece!"

"This is super cool. I did three days in a relatively small town, and it came up with a nice sounding trip (relaxation focused)."

- Redditor StillKickinginAZ

"This is incredible"

- Jenny Turner

UN Tourism | Bringing the world closer

The first global dashboard for tourism insights.

• UN Tourism Tourism Dashboard
• Language Services
• Publications

share this content

• Share this article on facebook
• Share this article on twitter
• Share this article on linkedin

UN Tourism Data Dashboard

The UN Tourism Data Dashboard – provides statistics and insights on key indicators for inbound and outbound tourism at the global, regional and national levels. Data covers tourist arrivals, tourism share of exports and contribution to GDP, source markets, seasonality and accommodation (data on number of rooms, guest and nights)

Two special modules present data on the impact of COVID 19 on tourism as well as a Policy Tracker on Measures to Support Tourism

The UN Tourism/IATA Destination Tracker

Un tourism tourism recovery tracker.

UN Tourism Tourism Data Dashboard

• International tourist arrivals and receipts and export revenues
• International tourism expenditure and departures
• Seasonality
• Tourism Flows
• Accommodation
• Tourism GDP and Employment
• Domestic Tourism

International Tourism and COVID-19

• The pandemic generated a loss of 2.6 billion international arrivals in 2020, 2021 and 2022 combined
• Export revenues from international tourism dropped 62% in 2020 and 59% in 2021, versus 2019 (real terms) and then rebounded in 2022, remaining 34% below pre-pandemic levels.
• The total loss in export revenues from tourism amounts to USD 2.6 trillion for that three-year period.
• International tourist arrivals reached 88% of pre-pandemic levels in January-December 2023

COVID-19: Measures to Support Travel and Tourism

Outbound tourism

• Living reference work entry
• First Online: 01 January 2015
• Cite this living reference work entry

• Peiyi Ding 3 &
• Shan Jiang 4  

147 Accesses

1 Citations

Outbound tourism describes the phenomenon of residents traveling from one country to another (World Tourism Organization 1994 ). It does not comprise of goods and services acquired for or after the trip within the generating country. It may be contrasted with inbound, domestic, and border tourism . For example, from an Australian perspective, visitors from the United States are inbound tourists, while from the US standpoint, they are outbound tourists.

With rising levels of disposable income, however, many emerging economies have shown fast growth. In 2012, the world’s top five destinations were the United States, Spain , France , China , and Macao (China). Source markets are largely concentrated in the industrialized countries of Europe , the Americas , and Asia and the Pacific (UNWTO 2013 ). With regard to expenditure on outbound tourism, China has shown by far the fastest growth. With the 2012 surge, China leaped to first place (US$102 billion), overtaking both the longtime top spender Germany...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

Gholipour, F., and R. Tajaddini 2014 Cultural Dimensions and Outbound Tourism. Annals of Tourism Research 49:203-205.

Article   Google Scholar  

Pearce, D., and R. Butler 2010 Tourism Research: A 20-20 Vision. Oxford: Goodfellow.

Google Scholar  

World Tourism Organization 1994 Recommendations on Tourism Statistics. New York: United Nations.

UNWTO 2013 UNWTO Tourism Highlights. Madrid: World Tourism Organization.

Download references

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Tourism Confucius Institute, Gold Coast Campus, Griffith University, Parkland Dr., 4215, Southport, Australia

Capital Normal University, Beijing, China

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peiyi Ding .

Editor information

Editors and affiliations.

School of Hospitality Leadership, University of Wisconsin-Stout, Menomonie, Wisconsin, USA

Jafar Jafari

School of Hotel and Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR

Honggen Xiao

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 © Crown

About this entry

Cite this entry.

Ding, P., Jiang, S. (2015). Outbound tourism. In: Jafari, J., Xiao, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Tourism. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01669-6_139-1

Download citation

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01669-6_139-1

Received : 20 April 2015

Accepted : 20 April 2015

Published : 29 September 2015

Publisher Name : Springer, Cham

Online ISBN : 978-3-319-01669-6

eBook Packages : Springer Reference Business and Management Reference Module Humanities and Social Sciences Reference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

• Publish with us

Policies and ethics

• Find a journal
• Track your research

Statistics Explained will be under maintenance from 8pm to 11pm.Edition and login will not be available.

• Statistical themes
• Statistics 4 beginners
• Eurostat home
• Education corner
• Regional yearbook
• Sustainable development
• What links here
• Special pages

Glossary:Tourism

Tourism means the activity of visitors taking a trip to a main destination outside their usual environment , for less than a year, for any main purpose, including business, leisure or other personal purpose, other than to be employed by a resident entity in the place visited.

Three types can be distinguished, according to the origin and destination of visitors:

• domestic tourism means visits within a country by visitors who are residents of that country.
• inbound tourism means visits to a country by visitors who are not residents of that country.
• outbound tourism means visits by residents of a country outside that country.

Derived groupings:

• national tourism means domestic and outbound tourism.
• internal tourism means domestic and inbound tourism.
• international tourism means inbound and outbound tourism.

Further information

• Methodology for tourism statistics and Tourism Satellite Accounts (TSA)

Related concepts

Statistical data.

• Tourism statistics
• Tourism glossary
• ISSN 2443-8219
• This page was last edited on 16 December 2014, at 12:41.
• 1 watching user
• Privacy policy
• Accessibility
• About Statistics Explained
• Disclaimers

• Hospitality Industry
• Institutions
• Vocational Courses
• Master’s Courses (International)
• Order our Book

What is Tourism and explain in brief factors that promote tourism?

Ans: Travelling outside from their usual environment/places for the purpose of Leisure, Business, Pilgrimage, Education, Treatment, etc. There are Outbound tourism, Inbound Tourism, Domestic Tourism which has explained in detail below.

This Industry is a dynamic and competitive industry, very important for the country’s economy.

India is growing rapidly.

It has been calculated by the World Travel and Tourism Council of World that Indian tourism generated ₹16.91 lakh crores (US$240 billion) or 9.2% of Indian GDP and created 43 Million Jobs in 2018 and expected to grow ₹32.05 lakh crores (US$450 billion) by 2028.

It enhances the economy of the countries and boosts in a range of many sectors of the countries.

Many Countries rely on Tourism.

Outbound Tourism

Outbound tourism is the act of traveling “out” of your home country for the purpose of tourism, it comprises the activities to travel out their country of residence and outside their usual environment for not more than 12 consecutive months for the purpose of Leisure, Business, Pilgrimage, Education, Treatment, etc. It involves the people going from India to other provinces, territories, or countries. For example, going to Hawaii for a holiday is considered outbound tourism. The three biggest factors contributing to the growth of outbound tourism are the advent of low cost, an increase in disposable income, and leisure time in globalization. There are tourists who visit places with the objective of studies and exploration. The need for research promotes tourism. Archeologists, Geologists, Oceanographers, Biologists and Zoologists, Architects, and People researching Arts and Cultures seek places that have great significance in the field of research.

The recent growth in outbound tourism industries in the world market is from China. It has an estimate in 2018 is approx $300 billion only in outbound tourism. Whilst, Chinese tourism travel all over the world. This means that the Chinese outbound tourism market is particularly welcoming in many destinations around the world.

Inbound Tourism

The tourists coming from other places are called inbound tourists. Tourism can bring in a lot of money to a country through the foreign exchange from a global market. It is for this reason that many countries will target their advertising towards certain nationalities and will try to attract tourists, mainly from the United States, China, Japan, Germany, and many other countries. To attract the tourist the government explores the cultures, Places, Monuments & Heritage, Food, Lifestyles, etc. The best example is people mostly travel to see the “Wonder of the World” or a place like Las Vegas due to the biggest Casino or to a place like Dubai to watch” Burj Khalifa”. The Industry also implements marketing campaigns, aimed to attract travelers from other parts of the country.

The problems occur when there are pandemic, terrorism, natural calamities, etc. this kind of uncertainties our intentional problem creates a major problem in economics.

India is said to be the largest market for travel and tourism. India is a diverse product like eco-tourism, film, rural and religious, spiritual tourism.

Domestic Tourism

It comprises the activities of residents, traveling within the countries. It is also a big business to bring the economy of the local area. India is one of the popular domestic tourism. It is surrounded by Sea, Hills, Sand dune, Jungles, Different cultures, religion, food, temples (the state with the highest domestic tourists was Tamil Nadu, with over 385 million tourist visits), monuments, and heritage, etc.

No Responses

Leave a reply cancel reply.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

© 2024 The Hotel Skills. Created with ❤️ using WordPress and Vertice theme.

The differences between outbound and inbound tour operator agents

By Blake Ng — 25 Mar 2018

distribution   inbound tour operator   inbound travel   outbound tour operator   outbound travel

Updated January 2023 – Are you a tour operator trying to find which option is best for you? Or alternatively, are you a tourism professional trying to set up your distribution system? Trying to make your mark and stand out in a highly competitive industry? Let’s start at the beginning to help you understand the types of travel agents available to partner with. 

The role of a tour operator is to brainstorm ideas and conduct research to design holiday packages for travelers. In essence, they curate and compile various travel elements into a package that people will find appealing — creating a tailored and individual experience based on the interests and needs of various travelers. Holiday packages usually combine accommodation, cuisine, sightseeing, and transport. 

Inbound vs. outbound travel

An inbound tourist is someone who visits a country but is not a resident of it. In outbound tourism, residents of a country visit another country. Does this sound like two sides of the same coin? That’s because it is.

Let’s look at an example:

Kevin, an Australian citizen, is traveling to Argentina for a holiday.

Kevin is an inbound tourist to Argentina. In contrast, Kevin is an outbound tourist from Australia. 

Depending on where Kevin chooses to organize his holiday packages will depend on if he makes use of inbound tourism or outbound tourism.

An inbound tour operator will sell to people soon to be arriving in their countries, whereas an outbound tour operator will sell to people before they arrive at their destination.

Inbound tour operator agents

An inbound tour operator, also known as a destination management company, is a locally-based business or individual that provides holiday planning. This includes itinerary planning and arrangement of payment for their overseas clients. 

Inbound tour operators deal with both individuals and groups of international travelers. They make arrangements that are specifically catered to international guests, ensuring their clients have a comfortable and enjoyable stay. 

An inbound operator can work with the convenience of being able to operate at the same location in which they are organizing the holiday packages. Compared to outbound tour operators, an inbound operator would better understand the local area and its culture. This is especially true when receiving any inquiries or questions about tour information from a potential client. Additionally, an inbound tour operator is usually encouraged to develop strategic partnerships with other local companies and tour and activity operators . Building these relationships is a lot easier due to geographical location. 

Inbound tour operators are locally based

The purpose of inbound tour operators is to promote the entire destination to potential visitors from their local viewpoint. The operational advantage of being locally based is having easy access to work with other companies to promote the location as a whole to interested overseas travelers. Additionally, inbound tour operators can offer a more personalized service to their customers by having direct contact with them in their chosen destinations.

Inbound tour operators often work with other travel agents and distribution partners

Tour packages are often created and promoted by inbound tour operators in partnership with other travel agent s and travel distribution channels . Inbound tour operators work under the assumption that travelers are often motivated by package deals and promotions, and take advantage of this when marketing their destination. This means it’s beneficial for inbound tour operators to create packages that include local tourism businesses such as hotels, transportation, and tours and activities. Following that, these same packages are promoted to segments of the target market that are most likely to visit the region in the near future.

Choose an inbound tour operator if:

Working with an inbound tour operator is a good idea if you want to increase your visibility in a chosen destination. This will be increasingly beneficial if your target market shows interest in package deals. 

Outbound tour operator agents

A typical outbound tour operator works with international tourists. In contrast to inbound tour operators, outbound tour operators take travelers overseas from their home country. They offer a variety of tour packages that enable tourists across borders to travel abroad easily.

Outbound tour operators contribute significantly to the destination country’s economic growth. The majority of outbound tour operators choose to focus on a specific destination. This may be a destination that is currently popular or a destination in which they have special expertise and distribution partners. 

Most outbound tour operators cater to international travelers. 

Outbound tour operators offer travelers the convenience of visiting another country of their choice through tour packages. When travelers book a tour with an outbound tour operator, they can get everything they need under one roof — simplifying the travel experience. 

A particular region of the world is often their specialty

Outbound tour operators have the benefit of being experts in the destinations they serve. European destinations are a very popular choice with outbound tour operators; however other destinations, such as Southeast Asia and the Middle East, are growing in popularity. A successful outbound tour operator will often be very tuned-in to trends, one step ahead of the crowds, so they know which destinations to specialize in next. 

Choose an outbound tour operator if:

If your business strategy includes targeting international travelers, partnering with an outbound tour operator is likely to be a good fit. Additionally, an outbound tour operator will be a good fit if you understand overseas offerings and have the ability to promote them to domestic customers.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Just like running any form of travel company, there will always be some advantages and disadvantages. before working with either an inbound or outbound tour operator, here are a few pros and cons you should consider.

Inbound tour operators

As an inbound tour operator, you’ll have the advantage of convenience. This is due to being able to operate in the same location or home country as the tours you offer. This is extremely beneficial when receiving any inquiries or questions about the tours as you’d have a greater understanding of the local area and its culture compared to outbound tour operators. Furthermore, as an inbound tour operator, developing strategic partnerships and forming great relationships with other local companies and tour and activity operators will be a lot easier and is usually encouraged.

Another major advantage an inbound tour operator has is that most of the interactions with their customers will be direct. Meaning, it will allow them to offer a more personalized experience based on their customer’s needs.

Outbound tour operators

Just like the inbound operators, outbound tour operators deal with customers from their own countries. This makes designing and creating tour packages a whole lot simpler as they can customize the tours based on the customer’s interests. However, a disadvantage outbound tour operators have is not being based on the travel destination itself. This could create problems and can be more difficult to resolve any issues that may arise.

Fortunately, outbound tour operators have the flexibility to update their products and packages based on the latest travel trends and demands. As we all know, the travel industry is highly competitive and constantly evolving. Offering outbound tours gives you the freedom to adapt to changes in the travel and tourism market swiftly.

Which one should you choose?

The key difference between inbound and outbound tour operators comes down to whether they provide tours in their home country or abroad. You should consider both types of tour operator agents when developing your distribution strategy. Partnering with these two agents will maximize your reach to both international and domestic travelers.

Now, it’s time to think about ways to make your distribution and marketing channels more effective. You can identify your key partners via your research or by connecting with a tour wholesaler . By establishing partnerships with a large tour operator network , you can advance your business — both inbound and outbound. Read our previous blog if you are looking for tips and tricks for partnering with travel agencies or download our online distribution  ebook today.

In general, both types of tour operator agents play an important role in the overall success of your distribution strategy. By partnering with both of these agents, you’ll be able to maximize your reach to both international and domestic travelers.

When bookings start to come through, you’d want to ensure that you’re providing your customers with a simple booking journey. By utilizing an online booking software , you’re not only simplifying the customer’s booking journey, you’re streamlining your processes as well. This is due to advanced features that automate your processes that allow your customers to make a booking on the spot. These features include a real-time availability viewer, that allows your customers to book based on your exact availabilities. Payment gateway integrations that provide your customers with the convenience of secure online payments. And Automatic communication, which sends your customers confirmation and updates regarding their bookings.

To top this all off, you can easily manage your partnership with both outbound and inbound tour operators via an online tour operator marketplace like Rezdy Channel Manager . Rezdy’s marketplace broadens your reach to over 25,000 active resellers in the industry.

Using Rezdy Channel Manager is as simple as:

• Naming your price
• Setting your rates
• Letting resellers sell and promote your products

On top of that, you don’t have to worry about collecting payments and paying commissions as Rezdy automatically organizes payments for both parties. This reduces the need to chase your agents for payments.

Ready to capture more inbound and outbound bookings with Rezdy? Start a FREE 21-day trial or book a free demo today.

If you enjoyed this article, then make sure to sign up for our newsletter where you’ll receive the latest marketing tools and tour operator tips designed with businesses like yours in mind.

Start free trial

Enjoy 21 days to take a look around and see if we are a good fit for your business.

No obligations, no catches, no limits, nada

Distribution

eBook: Guide to growing your tourism business through distribution & channel management tools

How to navigate API connections with resellers

Case Study: Wendella Tours & Cruises

• Get IGI Global News

• All Products
• Book Chapters
• Journal Articles
• Video Lessons
• Teaching Cases

Shortly You Will Be Redirected to Our Partner eContent Pro's Website

eContent Pro powers all IGI Global Author Services. From this website, you will be able to receive your 25% discount (automatically applied at checkout), receive a free quote, place an order, and retrieve your final documents .

What is Inbound and Outbound Tourism

Related Books View All Books

Related Journals View All Journals

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]

• China Daily PDF
• China Daily E-paper
• Global Lens
• Global Views
• Chinese Perspectives
• Opinion Line

Tourism industry on way to full recovery

There have been strong signs since last year suggesting the tourism sector is on way to full recovery. Passenger trips within the country in 2023 increased to 4.89 billion, 93.3 percent more than the previous year, with domestic travelers spending 4.91 trillion yuan ($691.2 billion), up 140.3 percent year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

The huge domestic tourism market has been helping stabilize the global tourism industry as well as driving its growth. The number of tourists in China has been continuously increasing over the past four decades, with domestic passenger trips jumping from less than 500 million in the 1980s to more than 6 billion in 2019 at an average annual growth of about 10 percent.

China boasts both one of the world's largest inbound tourism markets and a massive domestic tourist industry, which has been fast recovering after the COVID-19 pandemic. Official data show that during the eight-day Spring Festival holidays in February, 474 million domestic passenger trips were made, up 34.3 percent year-on-year, with the total domestic tourism spending increasing 47.3 percent year-on-year to about 632.69 billion yuan. Also, about 119 million domestic passenger trips were made during the three-day Qingming Festival holiday earlier this month, an increase of 11.5 percent over the same period in 2019, with the domestic tourism industry's revenue reaching 53.95 billion yuan, up 12.7 percent compared with the same period in 2019.

A large number of Chinese tourists have traveled or are willing to travel abroad this year, while other countries are learning from China's innovative development model to make their tourism industries more resilient. For example, barbecue in Zibo, Shandong province; malatang, a soup containing boiled meat and vegetables seasoned with mouthwatering, spicy scarlet chili oil, in Tianshui, Gansu province; and the ice-snow tourism festival in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, all have boosted domestic tourism. Their sound infrastructure, clean image and excellent public services have attracted even foreign internet influencers.

The huge domestic tourism market and supporting industries are China's advantages, and they have accumulated rich experiences which the global tourism industry can reference. China's tourism industry is treading the right path to optimize the tourism products, promoting the high-quality development of tourist destinations and developing new tourism formats.

China's inbound and outbound tourism sectors both have performed well this year. During the Spring Festival holidays, Chinese people made 3.6 million outbound trips, close to the 2019 level. And while the number of outbound passenger trips could reach 130 million this year and inbound tourist footfalls could recover to 50 percent of the 2019 level, the inbound tourism markets of the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and the Taiwan island province are expected to make fast recovery, according to the China Tourism Academy.

Therefore, it can be safely said that China's tourism industry is on way to full recovery and is injecting new impetus into the global tourism industry. China's tourism industry shares with the rest of the world its development opportunities and strives to promote the development of a more open, more cooperative and higher-quality tourism market. For example, many tourist destinations across the world have benefited from Chinese tourists, as the swelling numbers of Chinese tourists in other countries have helped create more jobs and boost people-to-people exchanges.

The Chinese government has been taking measures to boost the tourism sector, for example, by encouraging Chinese nationals to visit foreign countries, which incidentally will help the global tourism industry to recover. The fact that an increasing number of Chinese tourists visited countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative in 2023 means more Belt and Road countries benefitting from the growth of China's tourism market.

Besides, China's high-quality opening-up requires high-quality cooperation and exchanges among countries, which tourism readily provides. Since the second half of last year, China has been introducing plans to make travel for foreign tourists easier. In July, China resumed visa-free entry for the citizens of Singapore and Brunei. From December, French, German, Italian, Malaysian, Dutch and Spanish nationals can get a 15-day visa-free entry into China for business, tourism, family visit and transit purposes.

Also, from March 14 this year, China has granted visa-free entry on a trial basis to visitors from Switzerland, Ireland, Hungary, Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg. Before that, in January, the National Immigration Administration introduced five new measures to facilitate foreigners' entry into the country, which include relaxation of port visa application requirements and provisions of visa extension, providing replacement and issuance services at local immigration departments for foreign nationals visiting or staying in China for non-diplomatic, non-official purposes, such as trade, investment or entrepreneurship or for visiting relatives.

Moreover, foreign nationals can enjoy 24-hour direct transit without undergoing border checks at nine major airports including those in Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Xiamen and Guangzhou. And while multiple-entry visas are available for foreigners, the requirements for visa have been streamlined for foreigners staying in China.

In addition, the government will launch a series of targeted measures to address existing problems and propel the inbound tourism market. For example, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said at a news conference in March that it will make it easier for payments at various places such as tourist attractions, cultural and performance venues and star-rated hotels.

The government attaches great importance to people's desire for a better life, which includes good travel experience. The government links this desire with the recovery and sustainable development of the global tourism industry. The positive impact of the recovery of China's tourism sector will encourage more countries to work together to boost the global tourism industry.

The author is director of the International Institute at the China Tourism Academy.The views don't necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

If you have a specific expertise, or would like to share your thought about our stories, then send us your writings at [email protected], and [email protected].

What is Allbound?

Learn the definition of allbound and the reason so many marketing and sales leaders are shifting to it away from traditional siloed inbound and outbound GTM tactics.

The Waning Epoch of Inbound vs. Outbound

Inbound vs. Outbound.

Marketing vs. Sales.

Pull vs. Push.

Demand Gen vs. Lead Gen.

Why make noise about this dichotomy?

Outbound is broken and inbound is… broken. 

Paid media budgets are not what they were 5 years ago. Not even close. And it takes “ 1,000-1,400 touches per opp ” sourced for cold outbound.

How’d we get here?

A Brief Analysis of Sales and Marketing Misalignment

Within any given B2B company, there often seems to be a great divide between two ways of thinking:

On one side, “attract” potential customers with “awareness” campaigns and “organic” “content.” (Marketing)

On the other side, “prospecting” takes “leads” and “sequences” them for “outreach” with “personalized” “messaging” - ideally with “triggers” or “signals” prompting the effort. (Sales)

For as long as B2B customer acquisition efforts have been around, these two have sat far apart, in different departments. At best, sales and marketing share lists of companies to target. At worst, and far too often, they compete for credit in a single CRM property: the “Lead Source” field.

This is the problem of Inbound vs. Outbound: it prioritizes credit, attribution, and budget decisions over Go-To-Market success.

It’s time to retire the old dichotomy.

If we think about it, there really isn’t that big of a difference between sales teams prospecting, and marketers running campaigns.

The channels vary, the typical metrics vary, and the skills needed to execute them vary (only somewhat). But they’re mostly the same: a message , through a channel , to an audience . Usually at scale, ideally with triggers and signals that make sense of why you’d send such a thing to such an audience.

But because these sets of activities occur within two different teams, there is a big problem with how these strategies get measured, defended, and optimized. 

Walk with me for a second…

Forecasts and reports that break down leads and opportunities and revenue into inbound vs. outbound miss two very important realities:

• Everything is multi-touch now. And just because you can’t attribute it, doesn’t mean it isn’t happening.
• “All roads lead to the website.” (I first heard this from Retention.com COO Santosh Sharan) So “Inbound” - anything coming through the website - becomes code for either “we don’t know where it came from” or “marketing was the first touch.”

Why Inbound vs. Outbound in the first place?

Why do we group revenue into such distinct buckets as “in” vs. “out”?

The most common defense of the Inbound vs. Outbound model is something like “we need to know whether to invest more in sales or marketing.” 

That’s sort of true but not entirely. Really, you need to know whether to invest more in “SDRs”/“BDRs” (whose prospecting is very similar to marketing) or whether to invest more in marketing-originated activities.

This struggle between sales and marketing for the Lead Source field, the struggle between Inbound vs. Outbound pipeline creation, it suffocates Go-To-Market organizations.

It seems we are confused about how to set up this GTM organization, the part of the business dedicated to creating revenue.

Prospecting and Marketing… Same?

After all, what is the difference, really, between syndicated content for lead generation, and outsourced SDR shops who book meetings for you? Maybe one or two conversion steps, but still it’s the exact same type of funnel and set of activities.

Or what is the difference between advertising for lead gen and cold calling for meetings? Again, just a couple steps in the conversion funnel but basically the same set of activities: a message tailored to an audience to scale pipeline creation.

For those who feel this is an oversimplification… where did all the paid media budgets of 2022 disappear to? Sales prospecting.

Now, maybe you don’t have SDRs. Maybe your account executives do the prospecting. That just means you have expert deal closers who are 50% marketers by trade - trying to scale prospecting to build a pipeline that keeps them sustained.

Is there really a better way to set up GTM?

Yes, there are several. But we won’t dive into all of them here.

One quick fix to this weird disjointedness between sales and marketing, is to move sales/business development (prospecting) under the marketing umbrella. This works well because then, when you measure marketing on pipeline creation, you can deprioritize channel attribution because they will own prospecting and marketing acquisition channels. 

But even if you don’t reorganize your prospecting team, you can still find tactical alignment for sales and marketing.

Here’s one way of thinking about the solution:

Make attribution harder, but revenue easier.

The problem with dichotomizing revenue with the “inbound vs. outbound” perspective is that the best GTM playbooks are ruining its utility.

Sure, it’s been helpful for financial planning to have a “marketing-sourced revenue” or at least “marketing-sourced pipeline” view of the business. 

But we all knew that couldn’t last, because in good GTM organizations:

• Marketing hands leads to sales, smoothly and with context. 
• Marketing doesn’t stop working those leads once they’re in with sales - they retarget with nurture campaigns any active leads and open opportunities.
• Marketing is nurturing upsell and cross-sell opportunities all across the journey.
• SDR teams are working across top-funnel and mid-funnel accounts to multi-thread and nurture, and discover more context for pain/problem and use case.
• Marketing and SDR are together influencing the same accounts. Whose to say who wins? Does it matter? (You say yes, so you can fire some SDRs or some marketers; I say - only do that if you’re not hitting targets, otherwise, keep them both).
• Marketing is sharing website intent (first party intent) with the sales team so improve existing prospecting nurtures and create fresh ones.

For the organizations already operating this way, the next concept here is nothing novel.

For all the rest:

Enter Allbound: where Inbound and Outbound converge.

Allbound is more than “ allbound sales ” or “ allbound marketing .”

This is important because quite a few mentions of allbound strategies have come up recently in the context of only a single channel like the phone .

How can the phone be an allbound strategy? It can’t, unless it’s part of an integrated stack that includes first party intent to detect companies that have been cold called, or push visitors into “warm” calling sequences.

An allbound strategy is a Go-To-Market methodology for using both inbound and outbound tactics glued together by first party intent from the website. 

The website becomes the bridge between sales and marketing channels. 

Right now your website is a vacuum. Why not turn it into the source of your best signals, and connect it with outbound sales efforts?

All of a sudden, you’re running a variety of powerful tactics that truly create and capture demand. And not in an ethereal way like demand gen folks talk about doing with LinkedIn posts. But in a way that lets you record companies and contacts who have visited your site, whether or not they’re in your database, and engage them on and off the site.

Allbound is simply a way to take that website intent signal, alert your sales reps, and offer them and your marketers multiple ways to engage.

• Chat on the website.
• Email and LinkedIn sequences after they leave the site.
• “Warm” calling after they leave the site.
• Push them back to the website to loop through the engagement channels again.

There are 3 reasons allbound is vital:

• First Party Intent is the Best Intent

3rd Party Intent is questionable and little proven. Just because a company has some employees who are browsing articles perhaps related to topics perhaps related to buying intent does not mean they care at all about your product.

2nd Party Intent is legitimate and valuable. The data from review platforms can be excellent to understand competitive purchases and reach out to companies who are evaluating competitors.

But still, nothing beats those companies who have checked out your pricing page, solutions pages, across multiple IP addresses (visitors), over the course of days or weeks.

Each intent type is better in combination, but since you’re budget constrained anyway, might as well buy the best: first party intent.

• Buyer Behavior is Multi Touch

We touched on this earlier (pun intended), but it’s important: there are very few linear paths to purchase these days. By merging outbound and inbound tactics into a unified approach, you can establish high familiarity and stickiness and other wonderfully vague marketing objectives with your potential buyers. 

Consistency across channels will win where scattershot strategies have not.

• No Website is an Island

So stop using it like one. 

A website is not a place where people go to fill out forms.

It is a research point. Sales and marketing can together push visitors to the site to encourage research and evaluation, and capture them there and after they spend time on the site. In this way, sales and marketing make the website the core of their strategy, rather than a weird vestigial organ from the early 2000s era of GTM.

Allbound Strategy in Action: Real-World Playbooks

There are nine playbooks that make up a great allbound strategy. Only nine. Not every company needs to do all nine. But if you find yourself doing only one, or even none, of these, it’s time to experiment.

These allbound playbooks work best in concert.

Each playbook either contributes to pipeline creation or pipeline acceleration, or in the case of PLG: trial/freemium monetization and upsell (AKA "make more money from your self-service users").

They also have great names.

Inbound Only Playbooks:

The Bread-and-Butter: Chat with ICP Visitors

Goal: Pipeline Creation. 

The most common use case for ServiceBell. 

Detect quality visitors on your website by filtering to high value pages, repeat visitors, long durations, excluding careers, or using first party intent integrations to find ideal customer profile (ICP) accounts. 

Then alert reps for proactive chat opportunities, and provide custom journeys to engage visitors while reps are away or busy.

Proactive chat outreach is surprisingly effective: to the right quality visitors, we typically see 15% or greater response rates. 

The Deal Dance: Chat with Open Opportunity Visitors

Goal: Pipeline Acceleration. 

Detect open opportunity accounts by integrating your CRM (HubSpot or Salesforce) with ServiceBell. 

Once they’re on the site, or in deal docs (e.g. Dock.us, Qwilr, Proposify) then send an alert to the owning rep so they can engage with them directly while they’re evaluating the deal. You can also set up custom journeys to offer the right representative’s schedule to their opportunities.

Often this is a great opportunity to have additional conversations with known contacts, or to connect with someone new at an account. Multi-threading like this will increase your chances of winning a deal.

The PLG Plug: Chat with Trial and Freemium Users

Goal: Trial/Freemium Monetization & Upsell. 

Set ServiceBell up in your trial or freemium product, then filter for users who have high potential to convert or buy into a higher tier. This could be because they have company attributes (size, location, etc.) that make them a good fit, or because they have spent a good deal of time in the right places of the app.

Then alert the sales or CS team responsible for converting these users, or engage these them with custom chat journeys.

The Campaign Trail: Chat with Ad Campaign Visitors

Goal: Pipeline Creation.

Take your high-value paid media campaigns - whether paid search (SEM) or paid social or otherwise - and use ServiceBell to detect when visitors from those campaigns land on the site.

You can do this with UTM_term for paid search traffic coming from keywords that you know convert well. This way, your reps can engage with known context (“It seems like you’re looking for [keyword or topic] solutions - is that right?”)

You can also do this by UTM_term for paid social audiences where you have your ICP clearly defined or segmented, as described in this post here .

And of course, you can adjust your custom journeys, alerts and segments to fit with UTM_campaign and UTM_content values, so that the automated messages and suggested sales rep messaging match what the visitor had already seen off-site.

Proactive chat, journey messages, and pre-recorded videos per campaign/term/content work very well in these settings.

This approach allows you to improve the ROI of your paid investments since you’re only increasing conversion rates on top of what you’re already getting.

Inbound-to-Outbound Playbooks:

The Loop-de-Loop: Follow up with Website Visitors on Email and LinkedIn

Use ServiceBell to cold call the ideal contacts at companies who have visited your website. Filter site traffic into the ideal customer profile visitors (company size, location, etc.) and meaningful intent signals (time on site, pages visited, multiple visitors). 

Then push the companies to your sales engagement (sequencing) platforms, enrich the companies to find contacts and get their email addresses, then add to an email or LinkedIn sequence there.

Alternative you can run enrichment on ICP titles in ServiceBell and push those contacts with their emails directly to your sales engagement platform.

Because ServiceBell can track UTMs, and integrate with most major sales engagement platforms like Outreach, Apollo or Salesloft, you can catch these contacts and engage with proactive chat when they return to the website.

The Demand-to-Dial: Follow up with Website Visitors via the Phone

Then push the companies to your own CRM, enrich the companies to find contacts and get their phone numbers, then add to a dial list in ServiceBell’s dialer. 

Alternatively you can run enrichment on ICP titles in ServiceBell and push directly to ServiceBell’s dialer.

The Boomerang: Follow up with Website Visitors via Ad Retargeting

Use ServiceBell to deliver ads to companies who have visited your website. Filter site traffic into the ideal customer profile visitors (company size, location, etc.) and meaningful intent signals (time on site, pages visited, multiple visitors), then deliver these audiences to LinkedIn Ads, or use Bullseye.so or Metadata.io to send these audiences to Meta (Facebook and Instagram ads) and Google (Adwords and YouTube).

Because you can also filter using UTMs, you can serve waterfalls of retargeting ads. This approach is considered best practice by great ad agencies like Impactable and Directive.

Note: as much as we’d all like retargeting using contact-level detection, it is unlikely you have audiences large enough to then have match rates high enough on social channels to run contact-level retargeting. If you do, then absolutely go for it.

Outbound-to-Inbound Playbooks:

The Clickthrough Catch: Engage Clickthrough Traffic from Email and LinkedIn Sequences

As you run email and LinkedIn sales outreach efforts, some of these contacts will visit your website.

If you’ve included links in your sequences, you can use either UTM codes on the URLs or ServiceBell’s integration with major sales engagement platforms to detect people when they arrive on the site from one of these campaigns. This can alert the reps who are the owners of the contacts or companies within your connected CRM.

This also works effectively for sending people to ServiceBell’s scheduler and connect with them live as they’re about to book a meeting.

You can also use a List or Campaign field in your CRM which is then mapped to ServiceBell to identify companies that visit your site without clicking a link in your campaigns, so that you can alert reps based on demand driven by sales campaigns.

The Checkup: Engage Follow up Visitors from Cold Calling Campaigns

As you run cold calling campaigns, whether for voicemail drops or conversations, some of these contacts will visit your website.

When they do, ServiceBell can detect the majority of them and alert you or your team. If you’re the owner in CRM and your CRM is integrated with ServiceBell, you can get notified as the owner. You can also keep a field updated in your CRM to track which call sequences they’re part of, and use this to add context to the alert that tells you they were part of a recent cold call campaign.

And to ensure you’ve got coverage even when you’re not around, build custom journeys tailored to your major call campaigns.

  Skip navigation

• Births, Deaths & Marriages
• Crime and Justice
• Social Conditions
• Information Society
• Housing and Households
• Labour Market
• Agriculture
• Building and Construction
• Digital Economy
• Enterprise Statistics
• International Enterprises
• People in Business
• Retail and Services
• Small and Medium Enterprises
• Technology and Innovation
• Tourism and Travel
• International Accounts
• National Accounts
• Government Accounts
• External Trade
• Key Economic Indicators
• IMF Summary Data Page
• Agri-Environment
• Ecosystem Accounts
• Environment Accounts
• Water and Waste Water
• General Statistical Publications A-Z of Releases and Publications
• Show Survey

Inbound Tourism March 2024

Over 521,800 foreign visitors departed ireland in march 2024.

• Key Findings

Of the 521,800 foreign visitors who departed Ireland on overseas routes in March 2024, 38.2% of the visitors were from Great Britain, 19.4% were from the United States, and 6.5% were from Germany.

The visitors' most frequent reason (46.7%) for travelling to Ireland was for holidays.

The visitors stayed a total of 3,109,800 nights in the country.

The total estimated expenditure of foreign visitors on their trips to Ireland was €558.6 million.

The visitors stayed on average 6.0 nights and spent on average €1,070 on their trips. 

Statistician's Comment

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (30 April 2024) released Inbound Tourism March 2024. 

Commenting on the release, Gregg Patrick, Statistician in the Tourism and Travel Division, said: “ The results show that among the 1,654,200 passengers departing Ireland on overseas routes in March 2024, some 521,800 (31.5%) were foreign visitors completing their trips (with the balance being Irish residents heading abroad (60.7%) and foreign same-day visitors (7.8%)). Amongst the 521,800 foreign visitors, some 38.2% were from Great Britain, 19.4% were from the United States, and 6.5% were from Germany.

Typically, their visit lasted 6.0 nights. Their most frequent reason was for holidays (46.7%). More of the visitors stayed primarily in hotels (49.4%) than in any other accommodation type, and the mean cost of their visit was €1,070 (comprising €271 on fare, €25 on prepayments, €354 on accommodation, and €420 on day-to-day expenditure).”

Editor's Note

The  Inbound Tourism  series is a new statistical series based on an updated sampling methodology and data collection process. For more information, including an update on the implementation of the new series, see  Background Notes  for more details.

Foreign visitors in the context of this release refers to overseas residents who have stayed at least one night in Ireland. These overseas residents include both Irish and non-Irish nationals but specifically exclude residents of Northern Ireland.

Departing Passenger Categories

In total, 1,654,200 passengers departed Ireland on overseas routes in March 2024. The majority of these (60.7%) were Irish residents heading outbound for tourism or other purposes. A further 7.8% were same day visitors, comprising Northern Ireland residents heading outbound via an airport or seaport in the Republic of Ireland (3.6%), foreign resident transfer passengers (3.0%), or other foreign resident same day visitors (1.2%). Some 31.5% of the departing passengers were foreign resident overnight visitors, constituting 521,800 visitors in total. The remainder of this release focuses exclusively on the characteristics and activities of these foreign resident overnight visitors (referred to simply as foreign visitors).

Detailed Residency

Of the 521,800 foreign visitors who departed Ireland on overseas routes in March 2024, the highest proportion (38.2%) was from Great Britain, accounting for 199,500 of the visitors in total. The second highest proportion (19.4%) was from the United States, accounting for 101,400 visitors. The third highest proportion (6.5%) came from Germany comprising a further 34,000 visitors. Furthermore, 28,700 (5.5%) of the visitors came from France, 26,900 (5.1%) came from Spain/Portugal, 26,300 (5.0%) from the Benelux countries, and 20,800 (4.0%) came from Italy.

Nights in Ireland

Foreign visitors who departed Ireland on overseas routes in March 2024 spent a total of 3,109,800 nights in the country. Broken down by residency, Other Europe visitors spent more nights in the country than any other residency group, accounting for 1,252,100 (40.3%) of the nights. The next most important visitor group, in terms of nights spent, was Great Britain, making up 805,300 (25.9%) of the total nights. Visitors from the United States & Canada were third most important, accounting for a further 778,400 (25.0%) of the nights. Other visitors made up 274,100 (8.8%) of the nights.

Reason for Visit

Among the 521,800 foreign visitors departing Ireland on overseas routes in March 2024, more had come to holiday than for any other reason. Some 243,400 (46.7%) had holiday or leisure as the main reason for their trip. The next most likely reason was to visit family or friends, with 153,300 (29.4%) of the visitors coming for this purpose. A further 81,800 (15.7%) of the visitors had come for business or work-related reasons.

Accommodation

Among the 521,800 foreign visitors who departed Ireland on overseas routes in March 2024, some 258,000 (49.4%) stayed in a hotel. Another 187,200 (35.9%) of the visitors had used family or own property as their main accommodation type. A further 22,300 (4.3%) of the visitors used guest house/bed & breakfast as their main accommodation type, while 20,300 (3.9%) of the foreign visitors used self-catering rented properties as their main accommodation type.

Expenditure

Foreign visitors to Ireland who departed Ireland on overseas routes in March 2024 spent a total of €558.6 million on their trips.

Broken down by expense category, the costliest subheading was day-to-day spending (incidental expenditures incurred during their visit such as eating out, entrance fees, public transport, etc, but excluding accommodation), amounting to €219.3 million (39.3% of the total expenditure). The next costliest subheading was accommodation at €184.6 million (33.0% of the total). Fares cost a further €141.6 million (25.3% of the total). Lastly, prepayments (items paid in advance, such as car hire, pre-booked tickets, etc.) comprised just €13.1 million (2.3% of the total).

Overall, the typical foreign visitor spent €1,070 on their trip to Ireland, breaking down as €271 on their fare, €25 on prepayments, €354 on accommodation, and €420 on day-to-day expenses.

• Background Notes
• Contact Details
• Previous Releases

Central Statistics Office Skehard Road, Cork T12 X00E, Ireland

• © 2023
• Freedom of Information
• Accessibility
• Data Protection & Transparency
• Privacy Statement

You can count on a rewarding career with the CSO.

Learn about our variety of roles and the benefits of working with the CSO.

Everyone is visiting Japan. An extended currency slump means the tourists will just keep coming.

• Japan's weak currency is boosting tourism, with a record-breaking 3.1 million visitors in March.
• The devalued yen is encouraging tourists to spend more on luxury goods.
• The currency is negatively impacting outbound travel, with more Japanese tourists staying in the country.

Japan is a beloved tourist spot . A weak currency is ensuring that it will remain that way for foreigners.

The country just broke its pre-pandemic tourist record, with 3.1 million foreign visitors in March. The government said it's on track to surpass 2025's target of 32 million annual foreign visitors this year, after 8.6 million tourists visited in the first quarter of 2024.

Japan opened to tourists in October 2022, after over two years of strict, pandemic-induced border restrictions. Pent-up demand, combined with a cheaper currency, has fueled the record number of visitors.

Tourists are staying longer and spending more due to the weak yen, which makes it cheaper for foreigners to purchase accommodation, activities, food, and gifts. The yen has fallen nearly 10% year-to-date , compared to the dollar.

Japan's currency has been depreciating largely due to high interest rates in the US, which makes the dollar more attractive to investors. A historic rate hike in Japan last month — the first since 2007 — did little to reverse the downward trend.

Japan is a tourist hot spot because of its status as a culture and entertainment icon, its natural wonders, and its unique cuisine. Tourists from South Korea, China, Taiwan, and the US made up the biggest portion of foreign visitors in March, according to Japan's National Tourism Organization.

Japanese carriers like Japan Airlines and ANA plan to cash in on the tourism boom by running more routes from Asia.

The sharp decline of the yen has also expanded demand for luxury goods. Foreign tourists are taking advantage of the currency discount by snapping up cheaper products in Japan from premium brands such as Swiss watchmaker TAG Heuer, Chanel, and Prada, Bloomberg reported earlier this month.

While the weak yen creates a sweet spot for foreigners, it is severely hurting Japanese travelers.

The number of outbound travelers was less than half the number of inbound travelers in March, per the National Tourism Organization. Outbound Japanese travel was down 37% last month compared to the same period in 2019, though it ticked up from February, the agency's data shows.

High airfare costs and low buying power is compelling more locals to skip international travel in favor of domestic locations.

If you enjoyed this story, be sure to follow Business Insider on Microsoft Start.