There is an enduring policy commitment in many countries to utilise tourism as an engine for regional development. Tourism can be a powerful agent for positive change in communities where the opportunities for the development of other economic sectors may be limited. Such policy approaches can help spread the benefits of tourism away from capital cities, historic destinations and coastal areas to lesser developed, often rural areas.

Tourism is an important driver of economic growth, globally and locally and remains one of the world's most important economic sectors. However, integrated and forward -looking are needed to ensure this growth.

Tourism is a leading job creator, and can help provide a wide range of diverse jobs for people of all ages and skill levels not only in major cities, but also in remote, rural, coastal and other often economically fragile locations where alternative opportunities may be limited. Employment in hotels and restaurants grew by 45% from 1995 to 2015, some 30% higher than average growth across the economy, and second only to real estate renting and business activities

It is a key part of a growing services economy, generating income and foreign exchange, creating jobs, stimulating regional development, and supporting local communities.

Tourism exports are economically significant , and have a larger impact on the domestic economy relative to other export sectors.
Every USD 1 of expenditure by international tourists in OECD countries on average generates an estimated 89 cents of domestic value added, compared with 81 cents for overall exports.

While overall growth trends in this dynamic sector are positive, governments are increasingly developing policies that seek to maximise the economic, environmental and social benefits that tourism can bring, while reducing the pressures that arise when this growth is unplanned and unmanaged.

Governments are currently facing two critical issues in terms of managing the tourism sector: leveraging the benefits of the digital transformation and ensuring that sustainable tourism policies are implemented

Provisional data indicates that destinations worldwide registered around 1.5 billion international tourist arrivals in 2019, an increase of 3.8% year-on-year.

France, Spain, United States, China and Italy remain the world's top five tourism destinations, receiving more than a quarter (27%) of worldwide arrivals in 2018. China, the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and France remain the top spenders as far as outbound tourism is concerned, responsible for 43% of global tourism expenditure

OECD member countries continue to play a prominent role in the international tourism economy, accounting for more than half (56.9%) of total global arrivals in 2018. The average growth in international arrivals for OECD members was 5.0% in 2018, compared to 7.4% in 2017. While the OECD rolling four year average annual growth rate of 5.5% continues to exceeds the global average, following strong growth in recent years, the longer-term trend is of a slowdown in arrivals to the OECD relative to tourism worldwide.

Six OECD countries recorded double digit annual growth of inbound arrivals in 2018 Finland, Israel, Korea, Lithuania, Slovenia, and Turkey while a number of other countries reported record numbers, including Australia, Canada, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Poland and the Slovak Republic. In contrast, Chile, Estonia, Latvia, Luxembourg, Norway, and the United Kingdom experienced reductions in international tourism arrivals.

Tourism exports are economically important, as they generate value added in the economy, directly and indirectly. Analysing tourism from a trade in value added approach shows that tourism expenditures (using non-resident expenditure as a proxy) generate bigger impacts on the domestic economy than overall exports, and have significant impacts in upstream industries and in other countries.

Latest estimates from the OECD Trade in Value Added (TIVA) framework indicate that 89% of tourism exports generate domestic value added in OECD countries, compared with 81% for overall exports (Figure 1.3); the remaining share results in value created in other countries (imports). More than a third of the tourism value added generated in the domestic economy comes from indirect impacts, reflecting the breadth and depth to linkages between tourism and other sectors

Continued growth in visitor numbers raises important questions about how to best manage this growth, to benefit people, places and businesses.

In Japan, the Government is promoting the establishment and development of private sector-led

destination management/marketing organisations, including with subsidies for staff costs and training.

The Japanese DMO registration system was established in November 2015, and already established

organisations play an increasingly central role in tourism-related regional development in collaboration

with local governments.

the long term tourism is likely to continue to grow and become an increasingly important element in all OECD economies. However, the tourism landscape will be impacted by large-scale social, economic, political, environmental and technological trends, bringing new and often unseen challenges, threats and opportunities. Exploring the multidimensional implications of these trends is important to inform policy and shape the future of tourism.

The digital revolution is a prime example of key driver of tourism growth that is having a profound effect on the sector, changing the way people travel, and how services are delivered. Chapter 2, Preparing Tourism Businesses for the Digital Future, provides an overarching assessment of how digitalisation is transforming tourism business models and processes,

Addressing these and other challenges faced by the tourism sector requires an integrated, forward-looking approach to policy formulation and implementation. Governments need new analysis, data and approaches that are calibrated to the fast-changing tourism sector. Tourism policy frameworks will need to be adapted to take account of and respond to these developments. At national level, co-ordination measures are well developed and long term strategies are in place in many countries to optimise tourism's economic and social benefits, while minimising its negative environmental impacts. The next challenge for many governments is to ensure that the policies and measures agreed at a national level can be consistently delivered at sub-national level, ensuring that local communities and the regions in which they are located can fully share the benefits of well-planned and managed tourism, and flourish in the longer term.

Tourism can play an important role in improving the attractiveness and well-being of places, not only as destinations to visit, but also to live, work and invest. More specifically, tourism can provide benefits for urban and regional economies including diverse employment opportunities, support for the promotion of cultural authenticity and assets, opportunities for innovative small-scale business operations, and support for infrastructure-related development and maintenance. This is the ambition behind Mexico's plans to develop the Mayan Train, for example, which would see a 1 525 km tourist-orientated rail touring route through the Yucatán Peninsula.