BENITO JUÁREZ, QUINTANA ROO, September 3, 2026. – The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has unveiled two new global rankings designed to provide a clearer picture of the economic weight and performance of the Travel & Tourism sector during 2025.

The new indicators examine the industry from two different perspectives: how much Travel & Tourism directly contributes to national economies and how much spending is generated by leisure travel and holidays.

According to Gloria Guevara, President & CEO of WTTC, the new rankings are expected to become an important reference for effectively evaluating tourism performance worldwide.

TWO RANKINGS, TWO KEY INDICATORS

1. Global Ranking by Travel & Tourism’s Direct Contribution to GDP

This ranking orders economies according to the absolute value of the sector’s direct contribution to Gross Domestic Product in 2025.

Mexico therefore secured fourth place worldwide, ahead of a number of other major tourism economies.

2. Global Ranking by Leisure Travel Spending

The second ranking measures the economic scale of leisure travel spending, highlighting the markets where this segment generates the greatest economic activity.

Mexico again ranks fourth worldwide, with US$237.9 billion in leisure travel spending in 2025. The result makes Mexico the only Latin American economy to rank among the top four in both global classifications.

The WTTC has previously highlighted the importance of leisure spending as a key component of the global Travel & Tourism economy. Its latest research shows that global leisure travel spending reached US$6.15 trillion in 2025, accounting for more than 80% of total global travel expenditure.

Mexico and the strategic role of Quintana Roo

The results are particularly significant for Mexico given the importance of tourism to its economy. Quintana Roo, home to internationally recognized destinations such as Cancun and the Riviera Maya, remains one of the country's leading tourism engines.

The state's combination of an established tourism offering, connectivity, investment and public-private cooperation has helped strengthen Mexico's international tourism position.

The WTTC also places Mexico sixth among the countries of the Americas in the growth of international visitor spending compared with 2019, with an increase of 1.7%, slightly above the global average of 1.5%.

Several other Latin American markets, however, recorded significantly stronger increases over the same period, including Cuba at 77.8%, Chile at 47%, Colombia at 34.2%, the Dominican Republic at 24.7% and Brazil at 20.9%.

Gloria Guevara highlights the importance of global benchmarks

Gloria Guevara, President & CEO of WTTC, emphasized the importance of the new indicators as tools for evaluating tourism performance across global markets.

The new rankings are designed to provide governments, businesses and investors with comparable information on the economic scale of Travel & Tourism and the markets generating significant levels of tourism activity and spending.

The WTTC's broader Economic Impact Research already tracks multiple indicators, including GDP and employment contributions, international and domestic visitor spending, leisure and business travel spending, capital investment and government spending.

Seven principles to attract tourism investment

Alongside the rankings, WTTC highlighted seven principles considered essential to attracting investment into Travel & Tourism.

They include:

1. Legal certainty and regulatory stability: creating a predictable environment for long-term investors.

2. A single-window investment system: streamlining and accelerating procedures for tourism projects.

3. An integrated tourism strategy: aligning governments, industry, communities and investors around common objectives.

4. Fiscal and financing incentives: improving the economic viability of tourism projects.

5. Visible political leadership: positioning tourism as a national priority.

6. Destination master plans: establishing long-term planning supported by a clear pipeline of investment projects.

7. Sustained tourism demand: strengthening connectivity, taking advantage of favorable demographic trends and developing a skilled workforce.

A global industry preparing for its next stage of growth

The publication of the rankings comes as Travel & Tourism continues to demonstrate its importance to the global economy. WTTC's latest Economic Impact Research estimates that the sector contributed a record US$11.6 trillion to global GDP in 2025, representing 9.8% of the world economy.

Investment is also playing an increasingly important role. WTTC reported that global Travel & Tourism investment exceeded US$1 trillion in 2025, growing 8.5% year-on-year.

Against this backdrop, the two new rankings offer another way to understand where the economic weight of tourism is concentrated and which markets are generating the greatest levels of activity and leisure spending.

Valletta prepares to host the WTTC Global Summit

The findings come ahead of the 26th WTTC Global Summit, scheduled to take place from October 7–9, 2026, in Valletta, Malta.

The event will bring together CEOs, government ministers, investors and public- and private-sector leaders to discuss the future of Travel & Tourism, with a focus on innovation, resilience, sustainability and long-term growth.

With the launch of these two global rankings, WTTC is adding another comparative tool to its extensive economic research, giving tourism leaders and investors a clearer picture of the markets where Travel & Tourism has the greatest economic impact and where future opportunities may emerge.