Coastal hotels and restaurants, travel agencies, the sports, entertainment and recreation that draw visitors to the coast, and the flights and trains that transport them there, together make up the largest area of the ocean economy in most years. This chapter examines marine and coastal tourism using the OECD’s estimates of ocean economic activity.
The Ocean Economy at a Glance
Abstract
Marine and coastal tourism was the largest area of the ocean economy in most years since 1995, but the pandemic left it growing more slowly than the ocean economy. Its gross value added reached USD 875 billion in real terms in 2025, an increase of 116% over 1995 which compares with 133% for the ocean economy. It fell by a third during the pandemic and regained its 2019 level only in 2023.
Accommodation for visitors remained the largest marine and coastal tourism activity by gross value added over the period. Accommodation for visitors rose from 33.7% to 39.7% of its total gross value added while air transport was its fastest growing activity at 4.2% per year on average.
The largest marine and coastal tourism regional economy shifted over time, moving from OECD Asia to OECD Europe, then temporarily to non-OECD Asia during the pandemic, and then to the OECD Americas during the recovery. OECD Asia’s share of its world gross value added decreased from 35.0% to 13.2%. The United States emerged as the largest marine and coastal tourism economy in 2004 and produced 21.2% of the total in 2025.
Its employment nearly doubled, mostly in food and beverage services, and recovered more slowly than gross value added after the pandemic. Full-time equivalents rose from 22.8 million to 43.4 million, 59% of the increase in food and beverage services, and regained their 2019 level only in 2025 (as opposed to 2023 for gross value added).
Its labour productivity barely rose in real terms, because jobs grew fastest where gross value added per full-time equivalent job is lowest. Real labour productivity rose by 13%, compared with 58% in the overall economy. In current prices, the OECD area’s level fell from 11.8 to 7.6 times the level outside it over the period.
The pandemic reordered growth across regions and dependence on marine and coastal tourism for jobs widened. Non-OECD Asia’s gross value added grew by 5.9% a year in real terms and OECD Asia’s by 1.0%, compared with 2.6% for the world. Its share of national full-time equivalents rose in 50 economies and fell in 17, mostly where dependence on it for jobs was already highest.
Marine and coastal tourism generated gross value added (GVA) of USD 875 billion in real terms in 2025 and was the largest component of the ocean economy 18 of the years between 1995 and 2025 (Figure 6.1). Its real GVA fell by a third in 2020 during the pandemic and only regained its 2019 level in 2023. Marine and coastal tourism had grown by 90% over its 1995 level by 2019 compared with 99% for the ocean economy. Between 1995 and 2025 it grew by 116%, compared with 132% for the ocean economy and 125% for the overall economy. Its share of ocean economy GVA decreased from 33.5% to 28.6% in current prices over the period, reaching a low of 22.3% in 2021. Marine and coastal tourism therefore grew about as fast as the overall economy until 2019 and fell behind both the ocean economy and the overall economy after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gross value added of marine and coastal tourism, USD billions in real terms, plus its share of ocean economy gross value added, %, current prices, 1995-2025
Note: Panel A shows the gross value added of marine and coastal tourism in real terms. The dotted and dashed lines give the levels it would have reached had it grown from its 1995 level at the real growth rates of the ocean economy and of the overall economy. Panel B shows its share of ocean economy gross value added in current prices. The dotted vertical line in panel B marks 2021, the year of the lowest share. Gross value added is given at basic prices. Real terms are chain-linked volumes in previous years’ prices set to a 2022 reference year. Data for 2025 are a projection.
Source: OECD (2026), OCEANSTAT: OECD estimates of ocean economic activity.
The real GVA of marine and coastal tourism fell by 32.5% during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, almost three times the fall of the ocean economy (Figure 6.2). Its annual growth moved in the same direction as the ocean economy’s in every year between 1995 and 2025 but fluctuated more than twice as widely. It also fell in 2009, the only other year in which the ocean economy contracted. In 2009 marine and coastal tourism fell by 3.1% compared with 2.5% for the ocean economy. The three largest increases in marine and coastal tourism GVA of between 13.9% and 20.1% per year occurred during the three years after the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the period as a whole marine and coastal tourism grew by 2.6% a year in real terms, compared with 2.8% for the ocean economy and 2.7% for the overall economy. It grew faster than the ocean economy only between 2008 and 2019 at 2.6% per year compared with 2.2%.
Annual real terms growth of gross value added of marine and coastal tourism and of the ocean economy, %, 1996-2025
Note: The horizontal segments mark the average annual real growth of marine and coastal tourism in each of the three periods. Gross value added is given at basic prices. Real terms are chain-linked volumes in previous years’ prices set to a 2022 reference year. Data for 2025 are a projection.
Source: OECD (2026), OCEANSTAT: OECD estimates of ocean economic activity.
Accommodation for visitors contributed most to the real growth of marine and coastal tourism in each of the three periods, while air transport grew fastest of its activities (Figure 6.3). Air transport grew by 4.2% a year in real terms between 1995 and 2025 and travel agencies and tour operators, the second fastest, by 3.0%, compared with 2.6% for marine and coastal tourism as a whole. Accommodation for visitors, the largest activity by GVA, grew by 2.9% a year and contributed between 1.0 p.p. and 1.4 p.p. a year to the real growth of marine and coastal tourism in each period. Rental and leasing grew slowest at 1.7%. Air transport replaced food and beverage services as the second-largest contributor from the 2008-2019 period and added 0.8 p.p. a year in the 2019-2025 period. No activity subtracted from its growth in any of the three periods.
Average annual real growth of gross value added, %, 1995-2025, plus the average annual contribution of each activity to the real growth of marine and coastal tourism, percentage points
Note: Panel A shows the average annual real growth of gross value added between 1995 and 2025. Panel B shows the average over the years of each period of the contribution of each activity to the annual real growth of marine and coastal tourism, so that the columns add up to the average of its annual real growth rates in the period. Gross value added is given at basic prices. Real terms are chain-linked volumes in previous years’ prices set to a 2022 reference year. Data for 2025 are a projection.
Source: OECD (2026), OCEANSTAT: OECD estimates of ocean economic activity.
Accommodation for visitors produced the largest share of the GVA of marine and coastal tourism in every year between 1995 and 2025, increasing its share from 33.7% to 39.7% (Figure 6.4). The 6.0 p.p. gain was the largest of the eight activities. Food and beverage services, the second largest activity by GVA in every year, decreased from 23.6% to 19.8%, the largest decrease in share. Air transport increased from 9.1% to 11.7%, most of it between 2008 and 2019. It passed arts, entertainment and gambling in 2013 to become the third largest activity by GVA, falling behind it again only in 2020 and 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Share of each activity in the gross value added of marine and coastal tourism, %, current prices, 1995-2025
Note: The dark line is the activity named in its title and the grey lines are the other seven, on the same scale. The dotted line marks the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Gross value added is given at basic prices in current prices. Shares are calculated of the sum of the eight activities’ gross value added in current prices. Data for 2025 are a projection.
Source: OECD (2026), OCEANSTAT: OECD estimates of ocean economic activity.
The leading region in marine and coastal tourism changed three times between 1995 and 2025 (Figure 6.5). OECD Europe initially passed OECD Asia, non-OECD Asia then led during the COVID-19 pandemic, and now the OECD Americas has led since 2023. OECD Asia’s share of world GVA decreased from 35.0% to 13.2% in current prices, with most of the fall (16.1 p.p.) occurring before 2008. Non-OECD Asia’s share increased from 7.0% to a peak of 26.0% in 2021 and was 22.5% in 2025. The OECD Americas’ share was 20.3% in 2019 and 27.1% in 2025, an increase of 6.8 p.p. since the COVID-19 pandemic which is the largest change of any region during those years. The OECD area’s share decreased from 85.8% to a low of 64.1% in 2021 and recovered to 68.4% in 2025. The OECD area produced more than half of world marine and coastal tourism GVA in every year. The shift of marine and coastal tourism away from the OECD area therefore stopped during the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic mainly because the OECD Americas gained more share since 2019 than any other region.
Share of world gross value added in marine and coastal tourism, %, current prices, 1995-2025, plus the change in the share of each regional group between 1995 and 2025, percentage points
Note: Regional groups are the UN M49 regions split by OECD membership. Panel A shows the shares of the four regional groups that have been the largest producer of marine and coastal tourism. Panel B gives the change in each regional group’s share between 1995 and 2025, with the white diamond showing the change between 1995 and 2019. Gross value added is given at basic prices in current prices. Data for 2025 are a projection.
Source: OECD (2026), OCEANSTAT: OECD estimates of ocean economic activity
The United States has been the largest generator of marine and coastal tourism GVA since 2004 and produced 21.2% of the world total in 2025 (Figure 6.6). The COVID-19 pandemic separated the ten largest producers. By 2025, the real GVA of the United States was 48% above its 2019 level and the People’s Republic of China’s (hereafter “China”) was 38% above. Spain’s real GVA fell by 68% in 2020, the deepest fall of the ten largest economies, but had returned to 14% above its 2019 level by 2025. Japan was still 10% below and the United Kingdom 6% below their 2019 levels. China, 13th largest among economies in 1995, was second in 2025. In current prices the GVA of marine and coastal tourism was USD 201 billion in the United States in 2025, USD 115 billion in China, USD 60 billion in Spain and USD 48 billion in Japan. Türkiye, Mexico, Italy, the United Kingdom, Korea and France complete the ten largest generators of GVA, nine of which are OECD Members. The ten held 66.5% of world marine and coastal tourism GVA in 2025, compared with 76.5% for the ten largest of 1995.
Gross value added of marine and coastal tourism, USD billions, current prices, the ten largest economies in 2025, plus their real gross value added in 2020 and 2025, index 2019 = 100
Note: Panel A ranks economies by their gross value added in marine and coastal tourism in 2025. Their rank in 1995 is given in brackets. Panel B shows, for the same ten economies, their real gross value added in marine and coastal tourism in 2020 and in 2025 as an index with 2019 equal to 100. Gross value added is given at basic prices in current prices. Real terms are chain-linked volumes in previous years’ prices set to a 2022 reference year. Economies that are not identified separately in the experimental ocean economy supply and use tables are not ranked. Dark bars indicate OECD Members. Data for 2025 are a projection.
Source: OECD (2026), OCEANSTAT: OECD estimates of ocean economic activity.
Marine and coastal tourism regained its 2019 level of employment in 2025, reaching 43.4 million full-time equivalents (FTEs), having fallen by a quarter during the COVID-19 pandemic (Figure 6.7). Its 2025 level of FTEs was 90% higher than in 1995. Food and beverage services accounted for 59% of the increase. FTEs regained their 2019 level two years after GVA did. The ocean economy’s FTEs grew by 33.0% over the period and the overall economy’s by 42.0%. Food and beverage services rose from 36.8% to 47.5% of the FTEs of marine and coastal tourism compared with only 19.8% of its GVA. Land transport fell from 26.9% to 19.0% of its FTEs over the period. China became the largest employer in marine and coastal tourism in 2006. It employed 7.0 million FTEs in 2025, compared with 6.1 million in India and 3.0 million in Indonesia. Nigeria rose from ninth to fourth and Bangladesh from 14th to fifth. Japan, which was the fourth largest employer in 1995, employed fewer FTEs in 2025 than it did in 1995. The Philippines, Mexico, the United States, Japan and Brazil complete the ten largest employers, of which three are OECD Members. Jobs in marine and coastal tourism are therefore concentrated in food and beverage services and in the economies outside the OECD area. And they returned more slowly than GVA after the pandemic.
Full-time equivalents in marine and coastal tourism by activity, millions, 1995-2025, plus full-time equivalents of the ten largest employers in 2025, millions, with their 1995 values
Note: Panel A shows the full-time equivalents of marine and coastal tourism stacked by activity. Panel B ranks economies by their full-time equivalents in 2025 with their 1995 full-time equivalents as a white diamond and their 1995 rank in brackets. Dark bars indicate OECD Members. Economies that are not identified separately in the experimental ocean economy supply and use tables are not ranked. Data for 2025 are a projection.
Source: OECD (2026), OCEANSTAT: OECD estimates of ocean economic activity.
Labour productivity in marine and coastal tourism was barely higher in real terms in 2019 than in 1995 and rose by only 13% over the whole period compared with 75% in the ocean economy and 58% in the overall economy (Figure 6.8). Labour productivity as measured by real terms GVA per FTE stood at 101 in 2019 on an index with 1995 equal to 100. Almost all of its rise over the period therefore came after the COVID-19 pandemic. In current prices, GVA per FTE in the OECD area was USD 67 300 in 2025, compared with USD 8 900 outside it. However, it rose by 77% outside the OECD area and by 46% within it, because employment grew fastest where GVA per FTE was lowest. The OECD area’s level was 11.8 times the level outside it in 1995, 6.1 times it in 2021, and 7.6 times it in 2025. The gap between the OECD area and its partner economies therefore narrowed for most of the period and then widened again after the pandemic. The typical country’s GVA per FTE was 0.82 times the world level in 1995 and 1.43 times it in 2025. The world figure is low because the economies outside the OECD area, where each FTE produced less GVA, employ most of the FTEs in marine and coastal tourism.
Gross value added per full-time equivalent, index 1995 = 100 in real terms, plus ratios of OECD area’s level to the non-OECD level and the typical country’s level to the world level, current prices, 1995-2025
Note: Panel A shows gross value added per full-time equivalent in marine and coastal tourism in real terms as an index with 1995 equal to 100 and the same for the overall economy. Panel B shows the ratio of gross value added per full-time equivalent in the OECD area to that in non-OECD economies and the ratio of the typical country’s level to the world level, both in current prices. World combines both OECD and non-OECD economies. Real terms are chain-linked volumes in previous years’ prices set to a 2022 reference year. The typical country is the median economy. Data for 2025 are a projection.
Source: OECD (2026), OCEANSTAT: OECD estimates of ocean economic activity.
Dependence on marine and coastal tourism for jobs widened across economies between 1995 and 2025, but dependence increased most where it had already been highest (Figure 6.9). Its share of national FTEs rose in 50 economies and fell in 17. In the typical country, marine and coastal tourism accounted for 0.98% of FTEs in 1995 and 1.20% in 2025. This is above the world share of 0.78% and 1.05% in every year. The share in the most dependent tenth of economies rose from 2.6% to 3.0%, after a peak of 3.6% in 2019. Iceland’s share increased from 2.1% to 7.6% which is the largest increase over the period. Mauritius, the most dependent economy in 2025, went from 5.9% to 9.3%. Malta and Greece also gained more than 2 percentage points. Japan’s share decreased from 3.0% to 2.3% and Spain’s from 4.1% to 3.6% which represent the two largest falls in dependence for jobs. Dependence on marine and coastal tourism for jobs has widened on average across economies.
Share of marine and coastal tourism in each economy’s full-time equivalents, %, 1995-2025, plus the change in the share between 1995 and 2025, percentage points, against the share in 1995, %
Note: Panel A shows the distribution across economies of the share of marine and coastal tourism in national full-time equivalents with the band running from the tenth percentile to the ninetieth percentile of economies. Panel B plots the change between 1995 and 2025 in that share against the share in 1995. World combines both OECD and non-OECD economies. Economies that are not identified separately in the experimental ocean economy supply and use tables are not ranked. Dark markers indicate OECD Members. The line is a least-squares regression of the change on the 1995 share with a slope of 0.28 and an R-squared of 0.16. The typical country is the median economy. Data for 2025 are a projection.
Source: OECD (2026), OCEANSTAT: OECD estimates of ocean economic activity.
Further reading
OECD (2026), OECD Tourism Trends and Policies 2026, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/3fd3cd75-en
OECD (2025), The Ocean Economy to 2050, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/a9096fb1-en
OECD (2024), The Blue Economy in Cities and Regions: A Territorial Approach, OECD Urban Studies, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/bd929b7d-en.