Tourism in Uruguay
Uruguay recorded a total of 3 million tourists in 2019, ranking 50th 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 Uruguay, the result is much more comparable picture: With 1.0 tourists per resident, Uruguay ranked 46th in the world. In South America, it ranked 1st.
Uruguay generated around 1.09 billion US Dollar in the tourism sector alone. This corresponds to 2.0 percent of its the gross domestic product and approximately 10 percent of all international tourism receipts in South America.
A global comparison can be found here › International tourism
Back to overview: Uruguay
Development of the tourism sector in Uruguay from 1995 to 2019
The following chart shows the number of tourist arrivals registered in Uruguay 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 as tourists in most countries. If the same person travels in and out more than once within the same year, each visit counts again.Data in the chart are given in millions of tourists. The red line represents the average of all 12 countries in South America.

Revenues in tourism
In 1995, tourism revenues amounted to 725.00 million USD, or about 3.8 percent of the gross national product. This corresponded to about 2.18 million tourists at that time and roughly 333 USD per person. Within 25 years, the country's dependence on tourism has decreased substantially. In the last year of the survey, the revenue now amounts to 1.09 billion USD, accounting for 2.0 percent of the gross national product.
All data for Uruguay in detail
Year | Number | Receipts | % of GNP | Receipts |
---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | 3.48 m | 2.34 bn $ | 3.8 % | 671 $ |
2018 | 3.95 m | 2.71 bn $ | 4.2 % | 685 $ |
2017 | 4.22 m | 2.92 bn $ | 4.6 % | 693 $ |
2016 | 3.63 m | 2.40 bn $ | 4.2 % | 660 $ |
2015 | 3.29 m | 2.35 bn $ | 4.4 % | 715 $ |
2014 | 3.20 m | 2.34 bn $ | 4.1 % | 733 $ |
2013 | 3.24 m | 2.48 bn $ | 4.3 % | 765 $ |
2012 | 3.16 m | 2.67 bn $ | 5.2 % | 845 $ |
2011 | 3.24 m | 2.40 bn $ | 5.0 % | 740 $ |
2010 | 2.71 m | 1.67 bn $ | 4.1 % | 616 $ |
2009 | 2.30 m | 1.46 bn $ | 4.6 % | 634 $ |
2008 | 2.26 m | 1.20 bn $ | 3.9 % | 530 $ |
2007 | 1.82 m | 928.00 m $ | 4.0 % | 511 $ |
2006 | 1.82 m | 711.00 m $ | 3.6 % | 390 $ |
2005 | 1.92 m | 699.00 m $ | 4.0 % | 365 $ |
2004 | 1.87 m | 591.00 m $ | 4.3 % | 316 $ |
2003 | 1.51 m | 419.00 m $ | 3.5 % | 278 $ |
2002 | 1.35 m | 409.00 m $ | 3.0 % | 302 $ |
2001 | 2.14 m | 700.00 m $ | 3.3 % | 328 $ |
2000 | 2.24 m | 827.00 m $ | 3.6 % | 370 $ |
1999 | 2.27 m | 653.00 m $ | 2.7 % | 287 $ |
1998 | 2.32 m | 695.00 m $ | 2.7 % | 299 $ |
1997 | 2.46 m | 862.00 m $ | 3.6 % | 350 $ |
1996 | 2.26 m | 890.00 m $ | 4.3 % | 394 $ |
1995 | 2.18 m | 725.00 m $ | 3.8 % | 333 $ |
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 WTO additionally points out that in some countries the number of tourists is only counted at airports, in others also at border crossings or even hotels. A comprehensive and reliable indication is therefore hardly possible in any country.