The tourism industrial ecosystem was responsible for 7% of the EU value added and provided 20.3 million jobs in 2019. The ratio of international travel receipts relative to GDP is over 12% in some EU Member States such as Croatia, Cyprus and Malta. The industry has a large share of small and medium sized enterprises (99.8%), and more specifically micro and small enterprises generate about 64% of the value-added, employing 84% of the industry professionals. The tourism ecosystem was among the most severely affected ecosystems by the COVID-19 pandemic when travel restrictions brought the industry to a halt. Nevertheless, tourism has proven its resilience and it recovered significantly during the summer travel season in 2021. It rebounded even more in 2022 and in 2023 reaching close to pre-pandemic level of tourist arrivals and in some destinations even being over pre-pandemic levels. The contribution of travel and tourism to EU gross domestic product (GDP) was €1.4 bn in 2021.
The European Monitor of Industrial Ecosystems (EMI) project has produced its first yearly report on the Tourism ecosystem, highlighting data on its progress in terms of its green and digital transition across several dimensions, including industrial performance, environmental impact, technology generation and uptake, start-up trends, investments and funding, and skills.
The data collected and used for this report is also shared in the data package below, relating to the abovementioned dimensions. Wherever possible, the data package allows for time series analyses, as well as comparisons among industrial ecosystems, Member States, and between the EU and other major economies such as the US and China.
