Global Travel & Tourism Benchmarking Report 2017
At a glance
- Benchmarks travel and tourism against eight sectors: agriculture, automotive, banking, chemicals, construction, financial services, mining and retail.
- Covers global level, all world regions and 27 individual countries to establish tourism's relative economic significance.
- Sponsored by American Express; published by Destinations International to provide advocacy evidence for destination professionals.
- Delivers thought leadership perspectives on tourism's world economic contribution and sector-specific challenges facing the industry.
What the report covers
The 2017 Global Travel & Tourism Benchmarking Report, published by Destinations International with American Express sponsorship, compares the economic significance of travel and tourism against eight major sectors. The research operates at three analytical levels: global aggregate, regional breakdowns, and analysis of 27 individual countries. The report aims to establish tourism's competitive economic position within broader industrial and service sector structures, providing empirical foundation for advocacy and policy dialogue.
Key findings
The report establishes a comparative benchmarking framework that positions travel and tourism alongside eight designated economic sectors: agriculture, automotive manufacturing, banking, chemicals manufacturing, construction, financial services, mining and retail. This multi-sector comparison contextualises tourism's economic footprint and structural importance relative to established industrial and service sectors at global, regional and country levels, enabling stakeholders to understand tourism's standing within broader economic hierarchies.
Published in 2017, the research provides empirical data documenting tourism's contribution to the world economy across multiple geographies. By analysing data at global level, across all world regions and within 27 individual countries, the report reveals variations in tourism's economic significance by geography. This granular approach allows destination professionals and policymakers to benchmark their own markets and regions against global patterns and peer economies.
The report is explicitly positioned as a thought leadership resource for industry professionals. It combines empirical economic data with analysis of key issues confronting the travel and tourism sector. This dual approach—quantitative benchmarking paired with qualitative industry insights—provides destination marketing organisations, hospitality operators and tourism advocates with both evidence and interpretive frameworks for industry dialogue and strategic decision-making.
Key numbers
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Number of sectors compared to travel and tourism | 8 |
| Number of individual countries analysed | 27 |
| Geographic levels of analysis | 3 |
Figures as published in the source; forecasts and survey results are labelled as such in the note.
Why it matters
DMOs & destinations
DMOs can deploy benchmark data in advocacy to justify tourism investment and policy prioritisation. By positioning tourism's economic contribution alongside agriculture, manufacturing and financial services, destination professionals provide policymakers and legislators with cross-sector context. The report strengthens funding arguments and regulatory advocacy through empirical evidence of tourism's competitive economic significance.
Hotels & hospitality
Hospitality operators gain macroeconomic perspective on tourism's structural role and sector standing. Understanding how tourism benchmarks against major industries informs workforce strategy, capital investment decisions and business cycle planning. The report helps hospitality leaders contextualise operational challenges and opportunities within economy-wide sector performance and competitive dynamics.
Travel tech & distribution
Technology providers and distribution platforms use benchmark data to validate market opportunity and position innovation within quantified economic ecosystems. The report's cross-sector comparison clarifies tourism's market size, growth trajectory and investment rationale. This contextualisation supports product development, business case articulation and strategic investment decisions in tourism-focused technologies.
Methodology and limits
The source text provided is the public-facing report landing page and summary; it does not disclose underlying data sources, sample methodology, collection period or statistical confidence levels. The report compares travel and tourism against eight pre-designated sectors across three analytical levels: global, regional and 27 individual countries. The report provides empirical data on tourism's economic contribution but the specific measurement approach—whether derived from official statistics, economic modelling or survey methods—is not detailed in the public summary. This brief is based on the available landing page text only; full methodological disclosure and numerical findings are contained in the downloadable PDF.
Official source
The report is © Destinations International. This brief is an original editorial summary by TourismIntel — it quotes only figures published in the source and never reproduces the document.
Check the official statistics on Pulse
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