In 2019, the last year before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the tourism sector hard, the Gross Value Added (GVA) generated directly by the sector amounted to around €572 billion, or 5% of the total Gross Value Added in the European Union (EU) economy. The share of tourism in GVA in Croatia is the highest in the EU.
Among the countries for which data are available from Eurostat, the largest shares of tourism in the total GVA were observed in Croatia (11%), Portugal (8%), Spain (7%), Italy (6%), and Austria (5%).
In absolute terms, the largest direct GVA from tourism was generated in Germany (€124 billion), followed by Italy (€100 billion) and France (€87 billion).
Based on 2020 data, for about half of EU countries, total direct GVA fell by €184 billion (32% compared to 2019) during the first year affected by the pandemic, causing a decrease in the share of the tourism sector in the economy (-1 percentage point). This year-on-year drop corresponded to €500 million less daily direct GVA in 2020 compared to 2019.