Palau recorded a total of 18,400 tourists in 2020, ranking 194th 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 Palau, the result is much more comparable picture: With 1.0 tourists per resident, Palau ranked 45th in the world. In Micronesia, it ranked 3rd.
In 2017, Palau generated around 123.00 million US dollars in the tourism sector alone. This corresponds to 56.47 percent of its the gross domestic product and approximately 82 percent of all international tourism receipts in Micronesia.
On average, each of the tourists arriving in 2017 spent about 846 US dollars.
Development of the tourism sector in Palau from 1995 to 2020
The following chart shows the number of tourist arrivals registered in Palau 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 6 countries in Micronesia.
Revenues from tourism
In 1998, tourism revenues amounted to 58.00 million USD, or about 49.44 percent of the gross national product. This corresponded to about 64,000 tourists at that time and roughly 906 USD per person. Within 19 years, the country's dependence on tourism has decreased slightly. Before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, sales were $123.00 million billion, 43.07 percent of gross national product. Thus, each visitor spent an average of $1,000 on their vacation in Palau.
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 Palau in detail
Year
Number of tourists
Receipts
% of GNP
Receipts per tourist
2020
18,400.00
2019
94,000
2018
106,000
2017
123,000
123.00 m $
43.07 %
1,000 $
2016
138,000
148.00 m $
49.61 %
1,072 $
2015
162,000
156.00 m $
55.62 %
963 $
2014
140,000
131.00 m $
54.21 %
936 $
2013
108,000
117.00 m $
52.91 %
1,083 $
2012
120,000
109.00 m $
51.32 %
908 $
2011
111,000
94.00 m $
47.74 %
847 $
2010
85,000
76.00 m $
40.87 %
894 $
2009
71,000
76.00 m $
40.53 %
1,070 $
2008
81,000
78.00 m $
39.34 %
963 $
2007
88,000
68.00 m $
34.19 %
773 $
2006
82,000
60.00 m $
31.19 %
732 $
2005
81,000
63.00 m $
33.08 %
778 $
2004
89,000
49.00 m $
29.66 %
551 $
2003
63,000
41.00 m $
26.63 %
651 $
2002
59,000
40.00 m $
24.51 %
678 $
2001
54,000
41.00 m $
26.13 %
759 $
2000
58,000
45.00 m $
30.76 %
776 $
1999
55,000
54.00 m $
47.58 %
982 $
1998
64,000
58.00 m $
49.44 %
906 $
1997
74,000
1996
69,000
1995
53,000
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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