International tourism of today is considered one of the main levers of job creation, generating income and foreign currency and foreign investment. Over the past few years, international tourism has been growing steadily, but at the same time this same growth is threatened by challenges in the form of various external shocks affecting the volatility of tourism. Volatility is described, according to many authors, as an unpredictable measure of the intensity of variations. These variations are associated with unpredictable crisis situations or events commonly referred to as ‘new shocks’ (e.g. terrorism, epidemics, natural disasters, exchange rate volatility, oil price, political (in)stability, wars, and various forms of criminal activities). Such global events have a profound impact on a wide range of political, legal and social dimensions. Tourism is extremely vulnerable to various external and internal shock e. The appearance of exogenous events in destinations changes the characteristics of tourism at the destination level, affecting the tourist demand, but also on the economic situation of the country. Purpose Based on the presented so far, it is also possible to define the purpose of the research of the doctoral dissertation: to analyse the main(exogenous) factors that influence the volatility of tourism in the form of the number of arrivals and number of overnight stays in selected countries of the world. Despite the obvious economic benefits it brings, tourism is exposed to internal and external shocks leading to a decline in activity. The intensity and duration will depend on the actual and perceived preparedness of the affected countries and the ability to convince that these countries are safe destinations. Knowledge of the factors affecting tourist demand is necessarily necessary for all countries, especially those whose share of tourism in GDP is extremely high. Such information may be useful for macroeconomic analysis and forecasting. The aim of the paper were as follows: systematically define and quantifies variables that can affect the tourism of today (terrorism, health issues, natural disasters, wars, political (in)stability, exchange rate volatility, oil prices, migration), determine the levels of volatility of tourism to external shocks, and point out the levels of volatility of tourism to external shocks, and point out the importance of monitoring phenomena affecting tourism volatility.