Travel services in Latin America & Caribbean
Latin America & Caribbean: Travel services was 21.9% in 2025. ▼ Falling
Travel services in Latin America & Caribbean, 1979–2025
Source: Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF). Measured in % of commercial service imports.
Analysis
Latin America & Caribbean recorded 21.9% for travel services in 2025.
That represents a change of up 9.4% on the previous year and down 5.6% over ten years.
Over the whole period, travel services in Latin America & Caribbean peaked at 38.2% in 1979 and was at its lowest, 10.1%, in 2021.
That places Latin America & Caribbean 23rd out of 47 groups with data for 2025, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 47 years of available data.
Travel services in Latin America & Caribbean, year by year
| Year | % of commercial service imports | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1979 | 38.2% | — |
| 1980 | 32.7% | -14.4% |
| 1981 | 32.5% | -0.6% |
| 1982 | 29.2% | -10.0% |
| 1983 | 27.8% | -4.8% |
| 1984 | 29.4% | +5.6% |
| 1985 | 29.9% | +1.7% |
| 1986 | 31.2% | +4.4% |
| 1987 | 31.2% | -0.0% |
| 1988 | 35.6% | +14.0% |
| 1989 | 36.7% | +3.3% |
| 1990 | 37.8% | +3.0% |
| 1991 | 37.1% | -2.0% |
| 1992 | 36.4% | -1.9% |
| 1993 | 34.5% | -5.1% |
| 1994 | 32.7% | -5.3% |
| 1995 | 29.8% | -8.8% |
| 1996 | 33.1% | +11.0% |
| 1997 | 31.0% | -6.2% |
| 1998 | 30.8% | -0.7% |
| 1999 | 28.9% | -6.3% |
| 2000 | 28.9% | +0.0% |
| 2001 | 28.9% | -0.0% |
| 2002 | 26.8% | -7.3% |
| 2003 | 26.2% | -2.2% |
| 2004 | 26.0% | -0.6% |
| 2005 | 26.0% | -0.1% |
| 2006 | 25.7% | -1.2% |
| 2007 | 24.6% | -4.1% |
| 2008 | 23.6% | -4.0% |
| 2009 | 23.8% | +0.6% |
| 2010 | 22.6% | -5.0% |
| 2011 | 21.8% | -3.3% |
| 2012 | 22.1% | +1.5% |
| 2013 | 22.6% | +2.1% |
| 2014 | 22.7% | +0.3% |
| 2015 | 23.2% | +2.6% |
| 2016 | 24.3% | +4.7% |
| 2017 | 24.7% | +1.4% |
| 2018 | 23.9% | -3.1% |
| 2019 | 23.0% | -4.0% |
| 2020 | 10.3% | -54.9% |
| 2021 | 10.1% | -2.7% |
| 2022 | 14.8% | +46.9% |
| 2023 | 18.5% | +25.3% |
| 2024 | 20.1% | +8.3% |
| 2025 | 21.9% | +9.4% |
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Travel services in Latin America & Caribbean changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.
| Year | Change | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | -54.9% | 23.0% | 10.3% |
| 2022 | +46.9% | 10.1% | 14.8% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 38.2% | 38.2% | 38.2% | 1 |
| 1980s | 31.6% | 27.8% | 36.7% | 10 |
| 1990s | 33.2% | 28.9% | 37.8% | 10 |
| 2000s | 26.0% | 23.6% | 28.9% | 10 |
| 2010s | 23.1% | 21.8% | 24.7% | 10 |
| 2020s | 16.0% | 10.1% | 21.9% | 6 |
Countries ranked near Latin America & Caribbean
- 20 Argentina 41.5% compare
- 21 Uzbekistan 41.4% compare
- 22 Guinea-Bissau 41.2% compare
- 23 China 41.0% compare
- 24 Republic of Moldova 40.1% compare
- 25 Philippines 39.9% compare
- 26 Comoros 39.9% compare
More private sector data for Latin America & Caribbean
- Merchandise trade 44.2% (2025)
- Food imports 9.1% (2024)
- Manufactures imports 73.2% (2024)
- Merchandise imports 1.66 trillion current US$ (2025)
- Food exports 24.7% (2024)
- Manufactures exports 46.5% (2024)
- Merchandise exports 1.67 trillion current US$ (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), per capita 2,503 current US$ per person (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), per unit of GDP 0.2256 current US$ per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), annual growth rate 6.02 % change on previous year (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is travel services in Latin America & Caribbean?
- Travel services in Latin America & Caribbean was 21.9% in 2025, according to Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF).
- What is the highest travel services recorded in Latin America & Caribbean?
- The highest recorded value was 38.2% in 1979.
- What is the lowest travel services recorded in Latin America & Caribbean?
- The lowest recorded value was 10.1% in 2021.
- How does Latin America & Caribbean rank for travel services?
- Latin America & Caribbean ranks 23rd out of 47 groups with data for 2025.
- Is travel services rising or falling in Latin America & Caribbean?
- Over the last ten years it is down 5.6%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Latin America & Caribbean data come from?
- The figures come from Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF), published as part of Travel services (% of commercial service imports). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 47 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
Travel services cover goods and services for own use or to give away acquired from an economy by nonresidents during visits to that economy, or acquired from other economies by residents during visits to these other economies. This indicator is expressed as a percentage of service imports which are commercial services provided by non-residents to residents.