Portugal is the most tourism-dependent economy in the WTTC EIR 2025 set, with travel and tourism accounting for 21.3% of GDP in 2024, followed by Greece at 19.4%. By a different and arguably more human measure — the share of jobs that depend on tourism — Thailand leads, with 20.1% of all employment tied to the sector. Dependency is usually reported as a badge of success. It is also a concentration risk, and the smart read looks at both sides.
Most tourism-dependent by share of GDP (2024)
| # | Country | T&T share of GDP |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Portugal | 21.3% |
| 2 | Greece | 19.4% |
| 3 | Spain | 15.6% |
| 4 | Qatar | 15.1% |
| 5 | Mexico | 14.9% |
| 6 | UAE | 13.0% |
| 7 | Thailand | 12.8% |
| 8 | Morocco | 12.2% |
| 9 | Türkiye | 11.8% |
| 10 | Germany | 11.2% |
Most tourism-dependent by share of employment (2024)
The GDP share understates how exposed a workforce is. Tourism is labour-intensive, so its employment share often runs higher than its GDP share:
| # | Country | T&T share of employment |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thailand | 20.1% |
| 2 | Saudi Arabia | 15.1% |
| 3 | Malaysia | 14.9% |
| 4 | Spain | 13.9% |
| 5 | Germany | 13.3% |
| 6 | Mexico | 13.0% |
| 7 | Italy | 12.9% |
| 8 | United States | 12.6% |
In Thailand, one in five jobs depends on travel and tourism — the highest ratio in the set. That is why a demand shock in Thailand (a pandemic, a regional security event, a currency swing) lands on the labour market harder than the 12.8% GDP figure alone would suggest.
Why dependency is a risk, not just a headline
A high tourism share is great in a good year and brutal in a bad one. The 2020–2021 collapse is the reference case: the economies with the highest tourism shares took the deepest GDP hits and the slowest recoveries, precisely because they had the least to fall back on. Concentration means correlated exposure — a single external event moves a large fraction of national output at once.
That is the logic behind treating tourism dependence as a monitorable risk rather than a static statistic. On DataGreat, the same WTTC-anchored figures feed the tourism GDP hub and the platform's Risk Radar, which re-scores markets weekly so a rising dependency reads as a rising exposure — not a victory lap. Thailand's profile is a good worked example on the Thailand tourism statistics page.
The other end of the scale
The least tourism-dependent economies in the set are the large, diversified ones: South Korea (3.9% of GDP), Indonesia (5.1%), Canada (5.6%) and Argentina (5.8%). Low dependence is not "weak tourism" — Canada's tourism economy is worth $123 billion — it just means tourism is one engine among many, which is exactly what makes these economies more resilient to a tourism-specific shock.
How this is measured
Shares are WTTC EIR 2025 total-contribution figures (direct + indirect + induced) for 2024, expressed against national GDP and total employment from IMF and World Bank national accounts. Employment counts jobs supported across the tourism value chain, not only front-line hospitality roles, which is why the ratios run high. UN Tourism's arrivals data provides the demand-side cross-check.
FAQ
Which country is most dependent on tourism? By share of GDP, Portugal (21.3% in 2024). By share of employment, Thailand (20.1% of all jobs).
Why is tourism dependence considered risky? Because a high share concentrates national output and jobs in one demand-sensitive sector. When that demand collapses — as in 2020 — the most tourism-dependent economies suffer the deepest, longest downturns.
Which major economies depend least on tourism? South Korea (3.9% of GDP), Indonesia (5.1%) and Canada (5.6%) are the least tourism-dependent large economies in the WTTC set.
See the full 42-country ranking in tourism as a percentage of GDP by country, or open any market on the tourism GDP hub.
