Topics & Positions
Economy
Tourism as an economic factor: a global heavyweight
Both developed and emerging countries benefit from the positive impact of tourism. As the world's largest integrated travel group, TUI plays an important role in strengthening the positive impact of tourism in Europe and in destinations around the world. Our call to policymakers: create a global level playing field.
According to UN Tourism, around 1.5 billion international arrivals were recorded in 2025. Compared with the record year of 2024, the number of tourists worldwide rose once again by four per cent. This positive trend is expected to continue in 2026 as well.
Europe is also benefiting from this trend. A total of 793 million international tourists were recorded in Europe in 2025, which was a 4 per cent increase on 2024. The benefits to the EU’s labour market are considerable: tourism provides employment for around 25 million people in total, and it is expected to create 5.7 million new jobs across the EU by 2036. According to estimates by the WTTC, in 2025 the EU’s tourism sector contributed 1.9 trillion euros to the EU’s GDP, accounting for 10 per cent of the EU economy.
In Southern Europe, tourism is an even bigger contributor to employment, with a share of sometimes more than 20 per cent. TUI Group’s investments in the region are significant.
Employment trough Tourism
Tourism also provides millions of jobs in emerging and developing countries. Take Mexico: the tourism sector accounts for around 14 per cent of jobs. And in Cabo Verde, according to the WTTC, around 43 per cent of the working population is employed directly or indirectly in tourism. The WTTC forecasts a further increase to around 155,000 jobs by 2036 – equivalent to almost 69 per cent of total employment. Tourism secures livelihoods, provides prospects for education and development and strengthens social and environmental standards. A comparison between tourism expenditure in newly industrialising and developing countries and official development aid shows just how important tourism is: the tourism receipt is almost three times as high.
TUI – a systematically important player
TUI is of great importance for tourism worldwide. In many places, the company is the largest private investor and a long-term strategic partner of many destination countries. This is particularly true for regions in southern Europe and in emerging and developing countries such as Cabo 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 excursions and events 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.
TUI Group is the only company in the world that offers an end-to-end tourism experience across the entire value chain: from travel advice before a booking is even made to the journey by air, the holiday experience in the hotel or on the ship, to activities, service, transfers and support for guests at their holiday destination.
The TUI Care Foundation, an independent initiative set up by TUI Group, aims to make a difference in the destinations. To date, the Foundation has initiated and supported over 80 projects in 30 countries worldwide. It draws on tourism as a force for good to improve the lives of young people, preserve the natural environment and support local communities in their development. Recently, the Foundation announced the “Tourism for Development Fund” together with UN Tourism. The fund aims to promote sustainable tourism development in the least developed countries (LDCs), and the TUI Care Foundation will provide around 10 million euros for this purpose until 2030.
