Benin recorded a total of 337,000 tourists in 2019, ranking 145th in the world in absolute terms.
That smaller countries regularly perform lower in a comparison of the absolute number of guests, is obvious. By putting the tourist numbers in relation to the population of Benin, the result is much more comparable picture: With 0.026 tourists per resident, Benin ranked 161st in the world. In Western Africa, it ranked 6th.
In 2019, Benin generated around 240.86 million US dollars in the tourism sector alone. This corresponds to 1.4 percent of its the gross domestic product and approximately 5 percent of all international tourism receipts in Western Africa.
On average, each of the tourists arriving in 2019 spent about 604 US dollars.
Development of the tourism sector in Benin from 1995 to 2019
The following chart shows the number of tourist arrivals registered in Benin each year. Anyone who spends at least one night in the country but does not live there for more than 12 months is considered a tourist. Insofar as the survey included the purpose of the trip, business trips and other non-tourism travel purposes have already been excluded. The number of people passing through within the same day, and e.g., crew members of ships or flights are also not considered tourists in most countries. If the same person travels in and out more than once within the same year, each visit counts again.
The red line represents the average of all 15 countries in Western Africa.
Revenues from tourism
In 1995, tourism revenues amounted to 85.00 million USD, or about 3.9 percent of the gross national product. This corresponded to about 580,000 tourists at that time and roughly 147 USD per person. Within 24 years, the country's dependence on tourism has decreased substantially. Before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, sales were $240.86 million billion, 1.7 percent of gross national product. Thus, each visitor spent an average of $715 on their vacation in Benin.
Full figures for 2020, the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, are not currently available. However, national and international travel has been restricted worldwide, and some countries have even been closed off from the outside world altogether. Dramatic revenue losses are expected, with some countries experiencing losses of up to more than 80%.
All data for Benin in detail
Year
Number of tourists
Receipts
% of GNP
Receipts per tourist
2019
337,000
240.86 m $
1.7 %
715 $
2018
322,000
175.00 m $
1.2 %
543 $
2017
307,000
160.00 m $
1.3 %
521 $
2016
292,000
129.00 m $
1.1 %
442 $
2015
279,000
148.00 m $
1.3 %
530 $
2014
265,000
153.00 m $
1.2 %
577 $
2013
252,000
193.00 m $
1.5 %
766 $
2012
232,000
174.00 m $
1.6 %
750 $
2011
222,000
201.00 m $
1.9 %
905 $
2010
199,000
149.40 m $
1.6 %
751 $
2009
190,000
131.40 m $
1.3 %
692 $
2008
1.03 m
236.40 m $
2.4 %
230 $
2007
1.01 m
206.30 m $
2.5 %
204 $
2006
975,000
121.60 m $
1.7 %
125 $
2005
960,000
107.70 m $
1.6 %
112 $
2004
845,000
120.90 m $
2.0 %
143 $
2003
850,000
107.90 m $
2.0 %
127 $
2002
853,000
94.50 m $
2.3 %
111 $
2001
1.16 m
85.50 m $
2.3 %
74 $
2000
1.07 m
77.40 m $
2.2 %
72 $
1999
941,000
94.40 m $
2.6 %
100 $
1998
575,000
64.20 m $
2.6 %
112 $
1997
541,000
56.20 m $
2.5 %
104 $
1996
516,000
79.10 m $
3.4 %
153 $
1995
580,000
85.00 m $
3.9 %
147 $
Our data on tourist numbers, revenues and expenditures are based on information from the World Tourism Organization. However, to ensure international comparability, the data for some years or countries were manually researched and corrected if they obviously included visitors without overnight stays. In these cases, the data were taken from the official communications of the respective national tourism authorities.
The World Tourism Organization additionally points out that in some countries, the number of tourists is only counted at airports, while in others they are also counted at border crossings or even hotels. A comprehensive and reliable indication is therefore hardly possible in any country.
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