The UNWTO’s Compendium of Tourism Statistics is a reference guide for the measurement and analysis of tourism sector and presents data for 203 countries from 2013 to 2017.
The data of this writing come from the 2019 edition of the compendium.
In 2017, 4,867,000 people visited Iran from overseas, indicating a 1.5% decrease over the previous year whereas there were 5,237,000 foreign visitors to Iran in 2015, about 5.6% more compared with the following year, i.e. 2016, Financial Tribune reported.
In fact, 2015 saw the highest number of foreign tourists’ arrivals to Iran during the five years (2013-17).
The region-wise breakdown of foreign visitors to Iran shows that the share of arrivals from Europe was the largest of all regions in 2017 with 1,903,000 tourists. After Europe, the Middle East with 1,529,000 tourists, South Asia with 1,117,000 and East Asia and Pacific with 153,000 visitors were the top regions people visited Iran in 2017.
Americas and Africa were the smallest sources of Iran’s region-wise inbound tourism. As few as 12,000 tourists from Americas and about 14,000 travelers from Africa headed for Iran in 2017.
Road has been the most popular mode of transport among foreign visitors to Iran from 2013 to 2017. Of the 4,867,000 visits to Iran in 2017, a total of 3,210,000 were made by land (by road in particular), about 1,629,000 by air and around 28,000 by water. The World Tourism Organization did not provide numbers on travels by rail.
Tourism Expenditure
UNWTO defines tourism expenditure as the amount paid for the acquisition of consumption goods and services, as well as valuables, for own use or to give away, for and during tourism trips.
Expenditure associated with the activity of foreign visitors has been traditionally identified with the travel item of the balance of payments: in the case of inbound tourism, those expenditures associated with inbound visitors are registered as “credits” in the BOP and refers to “travel receipts”.
The 2008 International Recommendations for Tourism Statistics consider that “tourism industries and products” includes transport of passengers. Consequently, a better estimate of tourism-related expenditures data by resident and non-resident visitors in an international scenario would be, in terms of BOP, the value of the travel item plus that of the passenger transport item.
The UN agency did not publish Iran’s inbound tourism expenditure statistics for 2017 in the new edition of the compendium. However, figures provided for years between 2013 and 2016 show that foreign visitors’ total spending was the highest in 2015 with $4,771 million, followed by $4,197 million in 2014, $3,914 million in 2016 and $3,306 million in 2013.
In 2016, inbound tourism expenditure amounted to $3,914 million, the value of travel was $3,713 million and the value of passenger transport was $201 million.
Out of the total inbound tourism expenditure worth $4,771 million in 2015, the value of travel stood at $4,388 million and the value of passenger transport was $383 million.
In 2014, of the total $4,197 million inbound tourism expenditure, the value of travel hovered around $3,841 million and the value of passenger transport was $356 million.
Of the total inbound tourism expenditure worth $3,308 million in 2013, the value of travel was $3,054 million and the value of passenger transport was about $252 million.
The United Nations’ World Tourism Organization also provides data on expenditure by the main purpose of the trip based on BOP. The main purpose of a tourism trip is defined as the purpose in the absence of which the trip would not have taken place.
In 2016, inbound tourism expenditure for personal purposes stood at $3,023 million and that of business and professional purposes was at $690 million.
Inbound tourism expenditure for personal purposes stood at $3,575 million and that of business and professional purposes was $814 million in 2015.
Inbound tourism expenditure for personal purposes, in 2014, stood at $3,166 million and that of business and professional purposes was $675 million.
In 2013, inbound tourism expenditure for personal purposes stood at $2,497 million and that of business and professional purposes was $556 million.
Outbound Tourism
UNWTO’s departures data measure the flows of resident visitors leaving the country of reference. Departures are not necessarily equal to the number of arrivals reported by foreign destinations for the country of reference.
In 2017, Iranian residents undertook a four-year high of 10,543,000 outbound foreign trips. A total of 9,007,000 outbound trips were made in 2016, about 6,620,000 in 2015 and around 7,698,000 in 2014. Data on the number of Iranian residents’ trips overseas were not provided for 2013.
In the case of outbound tourism, those expenditures associated with resident visitors are registered as “debits” in BOP and refers to “travel expenditure”.
BOP estimates include, in addition to expenditures associated with visitors, those related to other types of travelers.
Data on Iran’s outbound tourism expenditure were not provided for 2017 in the compendium, either. Between 2013 and 2016, the year 2014 saw the highest spending by Iranian resident visitors outside the country with $10,130 million, followed by $9,893 million in 2016, about $9,658 million in 2015 and around $9,464 million in 2013.
In 2016, of the total $9,893 million outbound tourism expenditure, the value of travel was $9,437 million and the value of passenger transport was $456 million.
Of the total $9,658 million outbound tourism expenditure in 2015, the value of travel was $8,992 million and the value of passenger transport was $666 million.
In 2014, of the total $10,130 million outbound tourism expenditure, the value of travel was $9,452 million and the value of passenger transport was $678 million.
Out of the total outbound tourism expenditure of $9,464 million in 2013, the value of travel was $8,839 million and the value of passenger transport was $625 million.
In 2016, outbound tourism expenditure for personal purposes stood at $7,849 million and that of business and professional purposes was $1,587 million.
Outbound tourism expenditure for personal purposes stood at $7,052 million in 2015, and that of business and professional purposes was $1,940 million.
In 2014, outbound tourism expenditure for personal purposes stood at $7,871 million and that of business and professional purposes was $1,581 million.
Outbound tourism expenditure for personal purposes stood at $7,364 million in 2013 and that of business and professional purposes was $1,475 million.