COMCEC Tourism Outlook-2019
21
Figure 4.5 Tourism Receipts in the OIC Sub-Regions
Source: UNWTO Tourism Highlights 2006, 2009 and 2016 Editions.
According to available data, tourism receipts in OIC Mena increased from $91 billion in 2016 to
$106 billion in 2017 and $114 billion in 2018. OIC Asia and OIC Mena also recorded historical
high tourism receipts with $44 billion and $7 billion in 2018 respectively. It is important to note
that exchange rate fluctuations can represent comparisons in total spending between countries,
as well as changes in absolute terms over time. For example, if the US dollar appreciates versus
the currency of one-member state, tourism spending in this country translates into a lower
amount of US dollars from one year to another. This does not necessarily mean that spending
was lower, but simply that the same amount of that country’s currency converts into less dollars.
The distribution of the tourist arrivals and tourism receipts among the OIC Member States has
demonstrated the fact that international tourism in the Member Countries is concentrated in a
few countries. In terms of tourist arrivals, Turkey, Malaysia, UAE (Dubai), Saudi Arabia,
Indonesia, Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, Iran and Albania were the top 10 international tourist
destinations among the Member Countries in 2016. As shown in the Figure 4.6, these 10
countries together hosted 160.8 million international arrivals in 2018.
15 17
22 26 25
30 33 36 38 41
36 38 41 44
55 56
63
78
71
81 81 83 84
95 89 91
106
114
2 2 3 4 3 3 4 5 5 5 5 5 7 7
-
20
40
60
80
100
120
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
OIC-ASIA
OIC MENA
OIC SUB-
SAHARAN
AFRICA