The world’s fastest growing countries in travel

The locus of travel has rapidly moved eastward, and 2013 and beyond continues that inexorable journey. Both consumer and business travel trends are now being defined and tested out in regions other than U.S. and Europe. User experience and its intersection with design is the lens that travel will increasingly be defined by, and regions like Middle East, Asia and West Africa are at the forefront of those trends. We talked about this at length in our report earlier this year: “13 Global Trends That Will Define Travel in 2013.”

And now data from World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) backs that up. In its annual “Economic Impact Research,” it has come up with data on the world’s fastest growing countries in travel and tourism, calibrating against GDP contribution, employment growth, business and leisure travel growth, investment and other metrics.

Some of the countries on the list will surprise you at first glance, but on deeper dive, make sense:

The boom in the top few countries on the list — especially Qatar and Azerbaijan — is driven by oil/natural gas and construction. It’s understandable that travel is growing.

Qatar is also being driven by its new geopolitical prominence, based on the back of its worldwide sovereign wealth spending spree.

The mining boom – or speculators hoping for it – in central Asian countries like Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan are driving the travel economies there.

Peel back the layers on many of these countries, and a big reason for the growth in travel would point to one reason: China. The Asian giant has been buying its way into the emerging countries in Asia and Africa, especially in infrastructure development. That would explain the rise in travel industry as a result.

Some countries like Thailand, Oman, and Cape Verde are experiencing genuine tourism-driven growth, with less geopolitical implications than others on the list.

A big caveat here: With few exceptions all of these countries are growing this fast from a very small base where the travel and tourism industry is in its infancy. The absolute numbers may not be huge currently, but long term projections until 2023 even out some of these biases, and that’s why you see countries like China and India appear in this.

Fastest growing: Direct contribution of Travel & Tourism to GDP in 2012 (left) and forecast from 2013 – 2023 (right)

Countries	2012 Growth (%)	Countries	2013 – 2023 Growth (%)
Qatar	28.3	Namibia	9.7
Azerbaijan	24.8	China	8.7
Kyrgyzstan	24	Montenegro	8.1
Tunisia	14.2	India	7.8
Montenegro	13.9	Gabon	7.8
Uzbekistan	13.7	Angola	7.4
Kazakhstan	11.5	Zambia	7.3
Belarus	11.5	Cambodia	7
Chile	11.1	Mongolia	6.9
Jordan	11	Philippines	6.9

Fastest growing: Direct contribution of Travel & Tourism to employment in 2012 (left) and forecast from 2013 – 2023 (right)

Countries	2012 Growth (%)	Countries	2013 – 2023 Growth (%)
Kyrgyzstan	24.8	Gabon	8.4
Azerbaijan	24	Namibia	7.6
Qatar	19.9	Tonga	7
Montenegro	15.9	Montenegro	5.3
Aruba	15.6	Cape Verde	4.6
Tunisia	14.3	Thailand	4.5
Sudan and South Sudan	12.8	Cyprus	4.5
Thailand	12.5	Sierra Leone	4.5
Fiji	12.3	Iran	4.4
Singapore	12.3	Canada	4.4

Fastest growing: Domestic spending on Travel & Tourism in 2012 (left) and forecast from 2013 – 2023 (right)

Countries	2012 Growth (%)	Countries	2013 – 2023 Growth (%)
Qatar	12	Mongolia	9.4
Lesotho	11.6	Sao Tome and Principe	9.3
Zambia	11	Angola	8.9
Congo	10.9	China	8.8
Gabon	10.4	Azerbaijan	8.7
Mozambique	10.3	India	8.3
Botswana	10.3	Zambia	7.9
Oman	10.1	Gabon	7.9
Kazakhstan	10.1	Kyrgyzstan	7.8
Chile	9.6	Rwanda	7.7

Fastest growing: Visitor exports in 2012 (left) and forecast from 2013 – 2023 (right)

Countries	2012 Growth (%)	Countries	2013 – 2023 Growth (%)
Azerbaijan	56.4	Brazil	13.4
Belarus	39.7	Venezuela	9.1
Qatar	36.7	Philippines	8.7
Kyrgyzstan	34.5	Nambia	8.4
Uzbekistan	32.5	Thailand	8
Japan	31.6	Peru	8
Myanmar	27.8	Indonesia	7.8
Venezuela	23.5	Argentina	7.8
Tunisia	22.9	Nicaragua	7.6
South Korea	21.4	Lithuania	7.6

Fastest growing: Spending on business travel in 2012 (left) and forecast from 2013 – 2023 (right)

Countries	2012 Growth (%)	Countries	2013 – 2023 Growth (%)
Azerbaijan	34.6	Gabon	12.7
Qatar	27.5	Serbia	11.3
Cape Verde	26	Mongolia	9.2
Singapore	24.4	Malaysia	8.8
Philippines	23.7	Latvia	8.3
South Korea	19.1	Cambodia	8
Thailand	17.6	Nicaragua	7.9
Kyrgyzstan	15.9	Brunei	7.8
Romania	15.7	Lebanon	7.7
Armenia	13.4	Zambia	7.6

Fastest growing: Spending on leisure travel in 2012 (left) and forecast from 2013 – 2023 (right)

Countries	2012 Growth (%)	Countries	2013 – 2023 Growth (%)
Qatar	29.9	Angola	9.7
Kyrgyzstan	26.9	China	9.1
Vanuatu	21.6	India	7.9
Azerbaijan	21.3	Namibia	7.8
Belarus	18	Thailand	7.2
Tunisia	16.4	Philippines	6.9
Uzbekistan	16.3	Vietnam	6.8
Kazakhstan	11.6	Montenegro	6.7
Jordan	10.7	Cape Verde	6.7
Chile	10.7	Mongolia	6.6

Fastest growing: Capital investment in Travel and Tourism in 2012 (left) and forecast from 2013 – 2023 (right)

Countries	2012 Growth (%)	Countries	2013 – 2023 Growth (%)
Botswana	21.9	Montenegro	10
Armenia	21.7	China	9.2
Thailand	19.6	Zambia	9
Ivory Coast	19.2	Thailand	8.1
Malaysia	18.4	Gambia	8
Cambodia	18.2	Cape Verde	7.9
Qatar	16.9	Macau	7.8
Malawi	15.5	Pakistan	7.8
Hong Kong	15.1	Brazil	7.8
Congo	13.9	Iraq	7.6