Vanuatu recorded a total of 82,400 tourists in 2020, ranking 178th 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 Vanuatu, the result is much more comparable picture: With 0.26 tourists per resident, Vanuatu ranked 83rd in the world. In Melanesia, it ranked 1st.
In 2020, Vanuatu generated around 67.00 million US dollars in the tourism sector alone. This corresponds to 7.0 percent of its the gross domestic product and approximately 22 percent of all international tourism receipts in Melanesia.
On average, each of the tourists arriving in 2020 spent about 688 US dollars. Conversely, the inhabitants of Vanuatu spend as much as 1,979 dollars a year when they themselves spend vacations abroad.
Development of the tourism sector in Vanuatu from 1995 to 2020
The following chart shows the number of tourist arrivals registered in Vanuatu 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 5 countries in Melanesia.
Revenues from tourism
In 1995, tourism revenues amounted to 45.00 million USD, or about 18.05 percent of the gross national product. This corresponded to about 82,000 tourists at that time and roughly 549 USD per person. Within 25 years, the country's dependence on tourism has increased noticeably. Before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, sales were $295.00 million billion, 31.50 percent of gross national product. Thus, each visitor spent an average of $1,152 on their vacation in Vanuatu.
In 2020, tourist receipts plummeted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Of the $295.00 million billion (2019), only $67.00 million billion remained. This is a 77 percent decrease in Vanuatu.
All data for Vanuatu in detail
Year
Number of tourists
Receipts
% of GNP
Receipts per tourist
2020
82,400.00
67.00 m $
7.5 %
813 $
2019
256,000
295.00 m $
31.50 %
1,152 $
2018
350,200.01
325.00 m $
35.53 %
928 $
2017
332,700.01
289.00 m $
32.84 %
869 $
2016
351,600.01
275.00 m $
35.22 %
782 $
2015
287,000
254.00 m $
34.75 %
885 $
2014
329,000
284.00 m $
36.77 %
863 $
2013
357,000
314.00 m $
41.41 %
880 $
2012
321,000
268.00 m $
35.84 %
835 $
2011
248,899.99
249.00 m $
32.33 %
1,000 $
2010
237,700.00
242.00 m $
36.08 %
1,018 $
2009
225,500
214.00 m $
36.11 %
949 $
2008
196,600.01
188.00 m $
31.82 %
956 $
2007
167,000
142.00 m $
27.50 %
850 $
2006
154,000
109.00 m $
24.81 %
708 $
2005
126,000
104.00 m $
26.33 %
825 $
2004
99,000
93.00 m $
25.48 %
939 $
2003
102,000
83.00 m $
26.39 %
814 $
2002
99,000
72.00 m $
27.42 %
727 $
2001
106,000
58.00 m $
22.49 %
547 $
2000
106,000
69.00 m $
25.37 %
651 $
1999
96,000
59.00 m $
22.01 %
615 $
1998
78,000
72.00 m $
27.45 %
923 $
1997
81,000
53.00 m $
19.43 %
654 $
1996
103,000
56.00 m $
21.43 %
544 $
1995
82,000
45.00 m $
18.05 %
549 $
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.