UN Tourism systematically collects tourism statistics from countries and territories around the world in an extensive database that provides the most comprehensive repository of statistical information available on the tourism sector.
Data are collected from countries by UN Tourism through a questionnaire that is in line with the International Recommendations for Tourism Statistics (IRTS 2008) standard led by UN Tourism and approved by the United Nations.
The latest update took place on 21 July 2026.
Domestic
Which comprises the activities of a resident visitor within the country of reference either as part of a domestic tourism trip or part of an outbound tourism trip
Inbound
Which comprises the activities of a non-resident visitor within the country of reference on an inbound tourism trip
Outbound
Which comprises the activities of a resident visitor outside the country of reference, either as part of an outbound tourism trip or
as part of a domestic tourism trip
Accommodation
As far as overnight tourism is concerned, accommodation statistics are an important statistical source of information on domestic and inbound visitors.
Macroeconomic
The Tourism Satellite Account approach by which tourism statistics are linked within the mainstream of macroeconomic analysis is introduced
Employment
Employment is a crucial aspect of the analysis of the importance of tourism for a national economy
SDGs
Data on the economic contribution of tourism and the implementation of relevant standards, such as the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) and the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA).
Note to students and university researchers: to be able to obtain data from the UN Tourism database free of charge you should send a formal request in writing (letter from your University, Faculty, etc. and signed by your professor/tutor; pdf is acceptable) in accordance with the special arrangement to support students and university researchers.
Supplementary materials for data collection
- Composition of UN Tourism regions: a file detailing the geographical composition of UN Tourism regions can be downloaded here
- UN Tourism statistics questionnaire: the questionnaire template can be downloaded here in English, French and Spanish