Tourism is a major economic sector, directly contributing, on average, 4.2% of GDP, 6.9% of employment and 21.7% of services exports in the OECD area. Recent trends point to continued growth and outreach: globally, international tourist arrivals grew to over 1.2 billion in 2016, and OECD countries play a prominent role, with arrivals up 3.9%, representing 55% of the global total and accounting for 60.4% of global travel receipts (up 2.6% in real terms, reaching USD 1 226 billion in 2016). Despite widespread downward pressure on public finances, budgets for tourism have largely been maintained or increased, due to awareness of the important economic contribution of the sector.