Misc

Mapped: Top Countries by Tourist Spending

Published

3 years ago

October 10, 2019

Iman Ghosh

Tourism Spending By Country

Mapped: Top Countries by Tourist Spending

Many people spend their days looking forward to their next getaway. But do you know exactly how much these vacation plans contribute economically to your chosen destination?

Today’s visualization from HowMuch.net highlights the countries in which tourists spend the most money. Locations have been resized based on spending amounts, which come from the latest data from the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

Oh, The Places Tourists Will Go

Across the different regions, Europe’s combined tourist spending dominates at $570 billion. Easy access to closely-located countries, both via rail networks and a shared currency, may be a reason why almost 710 million visitors toured the region in 2018.

Asia-Pacific, which includes Australia and numerous smaller islands, saw the greatest growth in tourism expenditures. Total spending reached $435 billion in 2018—a 7% year-over-year increase, from 348 million visitors. Not surprisingly, some areas such as Macao (SAR) tend to rely heavily on tourists as a primary economic driver.

Here’s how other continental regions fared, in terms of tourist spending and visitors:

Americas
Total expenditures: $333 billion
Total visitors: 216 million
Expenses per visitor: $1,542
Middle East
Total expenditures: $73 billion
Total visitors: 60 million
Expenses per visitor: $1,216
Africa
Total expenditures: $38 billion
Total visitors: 67 million
Expenses per visitor: $567

Of course, these numbers only paint a rudimentary picture of global tourism, as they vary greatly even within these regions. Let’s look closer at the individual country data for 2018, compared to previous years.

The Top Tourist Hotspots, By Country

It seems that many tourists are gravitating towards the same destinations, as evidenced by both the number of arrivals and overall expenditures for 2017 and 2018 alike.

Country	2018 Spending	2018 Arrivals	Country	2017 Spending	2017 Arrivals
1. U.S. 🇺🇸	$214.5B	79.6M	1. U.S. 🇺🇸	$210.7B	74.8M
2. Spain 🇪🇸	$73.8B	82.8M	2. Spain 🇪🇸	$68B	81.8M
2. France 🇫🇷	$67.4B	89.4M	3. France 🇫🇷	$60.7B	86.9M
4. Thailand 🇹🇭	$63B	38.3M	4. Thailand 🇹🇭	$57.5B	35.4M
5. UK 🇬🇧	$51.9B	36.3M	5. UK 🇬🇧	51.2B	37.7M
6. Italy 🇮🇹	$49.3B	62.1M	6. Italy 🇮🇹	$44.2B	58.3M
7. Australia 🇦🇺	$45B	9.2M	7. Australia 🇦🇺	$41.7B	8.8M
8. Germany 🇩🇪	$43B	38.9M	8. Germany 🇩🇪	$39.8B	37.5M
9. Japan 🇯🇵	$41.1B	31.2M	9. Macao (SAR) 🇲🇴	$35.6B	17M
10. China 🇨🇳	$40.4B	62.9M	10. Japan 🇯🇵	$34.1B	28.6M

Source: World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
Note that data is for international tourism only and does not include domestic tourism.

The top contenders have remained fairly consistent, as each country brings something unique to the table—from natural wonders to historic and man-made structures.

Where Highest-Spending Tourists Come From

The nationality of tourists also seems to be a factor in these total expenditures. Chinese tourists spent $277 billion internationally in 2018, likely thanks to the increasing consumption of an emerging, affluent middle class.

Interestingly, this amount is almost twice the combined $144 billion that American tourists spent overseas in the same year.

Up Next

Watching the Sky Fall: Visualizing a Century of Meteorites

Don't Miss

Who Owns Your Favorite News Media Outlet?

Click for Comments

Automotive

The Most Fuel Efficient Cars From 1975 to Today

This infographic lists the most fuel efficient cars over the past 46 years, including the current leader for 2023.

Published

1 day ago

January 26, 2023

Marcus Lu

The Most Fuel Efficient Cars From 1975 to Today

When shopping for a new car, what is the most important factor you look for? According to Statista, it’s not design, quality, or even safety—it’s fuel efficiency.

Because of this, automakers are always looking for clever ways to improve gas mileage in their cars. Beating the competition by even the slimmest of margins can give valuable bragging rights within a segment.

In this infographic, we’ve used data from the EPA’s 2022 Automotive Trends Report to list off the most fuel efficient cars from 1975 to today.

Editor’s note: This is from a U.S. government agency, so the data shown skews towards cars sold in North America.

Data Overview

All of the information in the above infographic is listed in the table below. Data was only available in 5-year increments up until 2005, after which it switches to annual.

Model Year	Make	Model	Real World Fuel Economy (mpg)	Engine Type
1975	Honda	Civic	28.3	Gas
1980	VW	Rabbit	40.3	Diesel
1985	Chevrolet	Sprint	49.6	Gas
1990	Geo	Metro	53.4	Gas
1995	Honda	Civic	47.3	Gas
2000	Honda	Insight	57.4	Hybrid
2005	Honda	Insight	53.3	Hybrid
2006	Honda	Insight	53	Hybrid
2007	Toyota	Prius	46.2	Hybrid
2008	Toyota	Prius	46.2	Hybrid
2009	Toyota	Prius	46.2	Hybrid
2010	Honda	FCX	60.2	FCEV
2011	BMW	Active E	100.6	EV
2012	Mitsubishi	i-MiEV	109	EV
2013	Toyota	iQ EV	117	EV
2014	BMW	i3	121.3	EV
2015	BMW	i3	121.3	EV
2016	BMW	i3	121.3	EV
2017	Hyundai	Ioniq Electric	132.6	EV
2018	Hyundai	Ioniq Electric	132.6	EV
2019	Hyundai	Ioniq Electric	132.6	EV
2020	Tesla	3	138.6	EV
2021	Tesla	3	139.1	EV

From this dataset, we can identify three distinct approaches to maximizing fuel efficiency.

Downsizing

Prior to 2000, the best way for automakers to achieve good fuel efficiency was by downsizing. Making cars smaller (lighter) meant they could also be fitted with very small engines.

For example, the 1985 Chevrolet Sprint was rated at 49.6 MPG, but had a sluggish 0-60 time of 15 seconds.

Hybrids

The 2000s saw the introduction of mass-market hybrid vehicles like the Honda Insight and Toyota Prius. By including a small battery to support the combustion engine, automakers could achieve good MPGs without sacrificing so heavily on size.

While the Insight achieved better fuel economy than the Prius, it was the latter that became synonymous with the term “hybrid”. This was largely due to the Prius’ more practical 4-door design.

The following table compares annual U.S. sales figures for both models. Insight sales have fluctuated drastically because Honda has produced the model in several short spans (1999-2006, 2009-2014, 2018-2022).

Year	Insight Sales	Prius Sales
2005	666	107,155
2006	722	106,971
2007	3	181,221
2008	-	158,884
2009	20,572	150,831
2010	20,962	140,928
2011	15,549	136,464
2012	6,619	236,655
2013	4,802	234,228
2014	3,965	207,372
2015	1,458	184,794
2016	67	136,629
2017	3	108,661
2018	12,513	87,590
2019	23,686	69,718
2020	15,932	43,525
2021	18,685	59,010
2022	7,628	33,352

Source: goodcarbadcar.net

The Prius may have dominated the hybrid market for a long time, but it too has run into troubles. Sales have been declining since 2014, even setting historic lows in recent years.

There are several reasons behind this trend, with one being a wider availability of hybrid models from other brands. We also can’t ignore the release of the Tesla Model 3, which began shipping to customers in 2017.

Electric Vehicles

We’re currently in the middle of a historic transition to electric vehicles. However, because EVs do not use fuel, the EPA had to develop a new system called MPGe (miles per gallon of gasoline-equivalent).

This new metric gives us the ability to compare the efficiency of EVs with traditional gas-powered cars. An underlying assumption of MPGe is that 33.7 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity is comparable to the energy content of a gallon of fuel.

The most fuel efficient car you can buy today is the 2023 Lucid Air, which achieves 140 MPGe. Close behind it is the 2023 Tesla Model 3 RWD, which is rated at 132 MPGe.

Check out this page to see the EPA’s top 10 most efficient vehicles for 2023.