According to the World Tourism Barometer of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), more than 1.3 billion international travellers were recorded in 2023 – around 88 percent of the level before Covid-19 pandemic. For 2024, the UNWTO forecasts a full recovery in tourist numbers. The travel industry is back on track for success. Two key figures on its economic importance:

• Tourism has grown – minus the pandemic years – twice as fast as world GDP in the last 15 years.
• Every tenth employee worldwide works in the travel and tourism industry.

The positive effects of tourism can be seen in industrialised nations as well as in emerging and developing countries. In Germany, tourism is a fundamental component of the national economy and reached new record levels in the 2022/2023 tourism year: the travel expenditure by Germans for pre-booked trips rose up to 79 billion euros – around 27 percent more than in the previous year. At the same time, tourism provides jobs for about three million people – that is almost seven percent of all employed persons in Germany. 

TUI is of great importance for tourism worldwide. In many places, the company is the largest private investor and long-term strategic partner of the destination countries. This is particularly true for regions in southern Europe and in emerging and developing countries such as Cape Verde. TUI has always been and remains a central partner – also for medium-sized companies. For example, the travel group is the largest commission provider for German travel agencies and, with its online platform TUI Musement, arranges excursions for tens of thousands of excursion micro-enterprises worldwide. In holiday destinations, TUI thus also helps to stabilise the local tourism infrastructure and supports small and medium-sized tourism businesses on the ground.