Tourism Industry

Tourism is travel undertaken for pleasure and the commercial activity built around providing and supporting that travel, defined more broadly by the UN Tourism organization as people traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for no more than one consecutive year, for leisure, business, or other purposes, for at least twenty-four hours. The industry reached a global scale of 1.03 trillion dollars in international tourism receipts in 2005, and international tourist arrivals passed 1 billion for the first time in 2012, reaching 1.235 billion arrivals and 1.22 trillion dollars in destination spending by 2016. Tourism today accounts for roughly 8 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and stands as a major economic driver for many nations, spanning everything from mass tourism to specialized niche markets distinct from the hotel, airline, and cruise sectors that serve it. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the industry severely, with international arrivals estimated to have fallen 58 to 78 percent in 2020 and receipt losses estimated at 0.9 to 1.2 trillion dollars.

Tourism is travel undertaken for pleasure and the commercial activity built around providing and supporting that travel, defined more broadly by the UN Tourism organization as people traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for no more than one consecutive year, for leisure, business, or other purposes, for at least twenty-four hours. The industry reached a global scale of 1.03 trillion dollars in international tourism receipts in 2005, and international tourist arrivals passed 1 billion for the first time in 2012, reaching 1.235 billion arrivals and 1.22 trillion dollars in destination spending by 2016. Tourism today accounts for roughly 8 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and stands as a major economic driver for many nations, spanning everything from mass tourism to specialized niche markets distinct from the hotel, airline, and cruise sectors that serve it. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the industry severely, with international arrivals estimated to have fallen 58 to 78 percent in 2020 and receipt losses estimated at 0.9 to 1.2 trillion dollars.