World Tourism rankings

Countries by tourist arrivals in 2019

The World Tourism rankings are compiled by the United Nations World Tourism Organization as part of their World Tourism Barometer publication, which is released up to six times per year. In the publication, destinations are ranked by the number of international visitor arrivals, by the revenue generated by inbound tourism, and by the expenditure of outbound travelers.

Most visited destinations by international tourist arrivals

In 2023 there were 1.3 billion international tourists, with a growth of 33.4% compared to 2022 and growth of 112.2% compared to 2021. ^[1] The top 10 international tourism destinations in 2023 were: ^{[2] [3]}

Rank	Destination	International tourist arrivals (2023) [4]	International tourist arrivals (2022) [3]	Change (2022 to 2023) (%)	Change (2021 to 2022) (%)
1	France	100 million	79.4 million	25.9	64
2	Spain	85.2 million	71.7 million	18.8	130
3	United States	66.5 million	50.9 million	30.6	130
4	Italy	57.2 million	49.8 million	14.8	85
5	Turkey	55.2 million	50.5 million	9.3	69
6	Mexico	42.2 million	38.3 million	10.1	20
7	United Kingdom	37.2 million	30.7 million	21.1	389
8	Germany	34.8 million	28.5 million	22.1	144
9	Greece	32.7 million	27.8 million	17.6	89
10	Austria	30.9 million	26.2 million	17.9	106

Africa

In 2019, there were 69.9 million international tourist arrivals to Africa (excluding Egypt and Libya), an increase of 2.4% from 2018. ^[5] According to the World Economic forum's Travel & Tourism Development report in 2024, Morocco is the country most dependent on travel and tourism among all countries in MENA region. ^[6] South Africa takes the lead in the Tourism and Development ranking in all of Africa, ^[6] the top ten African destinations by quality of tourism were:

Rank Internationally [6]	Rank in Africa	Destination	Score [7]	Change of Rank from 2019 to 2024 [6]
61	3	Egypt	3.96	+5
82	7	Morocco	3.64	-12
55	1	South Africa	3.99	+7
83	8	Tunisia	3.60	+2
98	10	Algeria	3.42	+2
110	14	Zimbabwe	3.19	0
114	15	Ivory Coast	3.13	+2
77	5	Kenya	3.68	-1
75	4	Botswana	3.71	+6
57	2	Mauritius	3.98	-4
81	6	Tanzania	3.65	+7
93	9	Rwanda	3.45	+6
104	11	Zambia	3.45	-2
106	12	Ghana	3.28	+1
107	13	Senegal	3.24	+2

The following table compiles estimated number of tourists for each country in Africa in 2018 and 2019, the top ten African destinations were :

Rank	Destination	Travel & Tourism Development Index ranking 2024 [7]	International tourist arrivals (2019) [5]	International tourist arrivals (2018) [5]	Change (2018 to 2019) (%)	Change (2017 to 2018) (%)
1	Egypt	61	13.0 million	11.3 million	14.8	36.8
2	Morocco	82	12.9 million	12.3 million	5.2	8.3
3	South Africa	55	10.2 million	10.5 million	2.3	1.8
4	Tunisia	83	9.4 million	8.3 million	13.6	17.7
5	Algeria	98	2.4 million	2.7 million	10.8	8.4
6	Zimbabwe	110	2.3 million	2.6 million	10.8	5.9
7	Mozambique	-	2.0 million	2.7 million	26.4	89.6
8	Ivory Coast	114	–	2.0 million	-	9.2
9	Kenya	77	–	1.9 million	-	15.4
10	Botswana	75	–	1.7 million	-	2.0
Note: Egypt and Libya are classified under "Middle East" in the UNWTO. [8]

Americas

In 2023, there were 200.0 million international tourist arrivals to the Americas, an increase of 27.3% compared to 2022. ^[5] In 2023, the top ten destinations were:

Rank	Destination	International tourist arrivals (2023) [9] [10]	International tourist arrivals (2022) [5]	International tourist arrivals (2021) [5]	Change (2022 to 2023) (%)	Change (2021 to 2022) (%)	Change (2020 to 2021) (%)
1	United States	66.8 million	50.7 million	22.2 million	31.7	128.3	16.0
2	Mexico	41.9 million	38.3 million	31.8 million	9.3	20.3	28.3
3	Canada	18.3 million	12.8 million	3.0 million	43.0	326.6	3.4
4	Dominican Republic	8.0 million	7.1 million	4.9 million	12.5	43.4	107.6
5	Argentina	7.2 million	3.8 million	0.3 million	87.3	1207.7	85.8
6	Brazil	5.9 million	3.6 million	0.7 million	62.8	386.5	65.2
7	Colombia	5.6 million	4.5 million	2.1 million	24.6	112.5	69.9
8	Puerto Rico	5.0 million	4.2 million	2.7 million	19.2	53.6	5.2
9	Uruguay	3.8 million	2.4 million	0.2 million	58.3	824.9	70.9
10	Chile	3.7 million	2.0 million	0.9 million	85.0	122.2	22.2

Asia and the Pacific

In 2019, there were 360.7 million international tourist arrivals to Asia-Pacific, an increase of 4.1% over 2018. ^[5] In 2019, the top ten destinations were:

Rank	Destination	International tourist arrivals (2023) [11]	International tourist arrivals (2019) [5]	International tourist arrivals (2018) [5]	Change (2018 to 2019) (%)	Change (2017 to 2018) (%)
1	China	35.3 million [12]	65.7 million	62.9 million	4.5	3.6
2	Thailand	28.15 million	39.8 million	38.2 million	4.3	7.3
3	Japan	25.07 million	32.2 million	31.2 million	3.2	8.7
4	Malaysia		26.1 million	25.8 million	1.0	0.4
5	Hong Kong		23.8 million	29.3 million	18.8	4.9
6	Macau		18.6 million	18.5 million	0.8	7.2
7	Vietnam		18.0 million	15.5 million	16.2	19.9
8	India		17.9 million	17.4 million	2.8	12.1
9	South Korea		17.5 million	15.3 million	14.0	15.1
10	Indonesia		15.5 million	13.4 million	15.4	3.5

Europe

In 2022, there were 594.5 million international tourist arrivals to Europe, an increase of 95% over 2021. ^[5] Top 10 destinations of the last four years were:

Rank	Destination	International tourist arrivals (2022) [3]	International tourist arrivals (2021) [3]	International tourist arrivals (2020) [5]	International tourist arrivals (2019) [5]	Change (2021 to 2022) (%)	Change (2020 to 2021) (%)
1	France	―	48.4 million	41.7 million	90.9 million	—	16.1
2	Spain	71.7 million	31.2 million	18.9 million	83.5 million	130	64.7
3	Turkey	50.5 million	29.9 million	15.9 million	51.2 million	69	88.3
4	Italy	49.8 million	26.9 million	25.2 million	64.5 million	85	6.7
5	United Kingdom	―	6.3 million	10.7 million	39.4 million	―	41.3
6	Germany	28.5 million	11.7 million	12.4 million	39.6 million	144	6.1
7	Greece	27.8 million	14.7 million	7.4 million	31.3 million	89	99.4
8	Austria	26.2 million	12.7 million	15.1 million	31.9 million	106	15.7
9	Portugal	―	9.6 million	6.5 million	24.5 million	―	48.4
10	Netherlands	15.9 million	6.2 million	7.3 million	20.1 million	155	14.0

West Asia

In 2019, there were 61.4 million international tourist arrivals to West Asia (excluding Iran and Israel), an increase of 2.1% over 2018. In 2019, the top ten destinations were:

Rank	Destination	International tourist arrivals (2023) [11]	International tourist arrivals (2019) [5]	International tourist arrivals (2018) [5]	Change (2018 to 2019) (%)	Change (2017 to 2018) (%)
1	Saudi Arabia	27 million	17.5 million	15.5 million	13.0	3.7
2	United Arab Emirates		16.7 million	15.9 million	5.1	0.8
3	Egypt		13.0 million	11.3 million	14.8	36.8
4	Iran		9.1 million	7.3 million	24.4	49.9
5	Israel		4.6 million	4.1 million	10.5	14.1
6	Jordan		4.5 million	4.2 million	8.1	8.0
7	Bahrain		3.8 million	4.4 million	11.8	0.2
8	Oman		2.5 million	2.3 million	8.6	0.6
9	Qatar		2.1 million	1.8 million	17.4	19.4
10	Lebanon		1.9 million	2.0 million	1.4	5.8
Note: Iran is classified as part of "South Asia" in the UNWTO. [8] Israel is classified as part of "Southern/Medit.Europe" in the UNWTO. [8]

International tourism receipts

International tourism receipts are the earnings a country makes from foreign visitors' spending on goods and services during their stay, such as expenditures accommodation, food and drink, and shopping. International tourism receipts reached USD 1 trillion in 2022, growing 50% in real terms compared to 2021, driven by the important rebound in international travel. ^[5] The World Tourism Organization reports the following destinations as the top ten tourism earners for the year 2022, with the United States by far the top earner.

Rank	Region	International tourism receipts (US$ billion) (2023) [4]	International tourism receipts (US$ billion) (2022) [3]	Change (local currency) (2022 to 2023) (%)
1	United States	175.9	135.2	30.1%
2	Spain	92.0	72.9	26.2%
3	United Kingdom	73.9	68.2	8.3%
4	France	68.6	59.7	14.9%
5	Italy	55.9	44.3	26.1%
6	United Arab Emirates	51.9	―	―
7	Turkey	49.5	41.2	21.3%
8	Australia	46.6	―	―
9	Canada	39.2	24.0	63.3%
10	Japan	38.6	―	―

Africa

Rank	Region	International tourism receipts (US$ million) (2019) [5]
1	Egypt	13,030
2	South Africa	8,384
3	Morocco	8,179
4	Tanzania	2,605
5	Tunisia	2,116
6	Mauritius	1,779
7	Uganda	1,463
8	Nigeria	1,449
9	Ghana	1,425
10	Kenya	1,072*
Note: Number for Kenya is for 2018.

Americas

Rank	Region	International tourism receipts (US$ million) (2023) [9] [5]	International tourism receipts (US$ million) (2022) [5]	International tourism receipts (US$ million) (2021) [5]
1	United States	189,1	142,9	71,7
2	Canada	45,4	32,0	15,4
3	Mexico	30,7	28,0	19,8
4	Dominican Republic	9,8	8,4	5,7
5	Colombia	7,6	6,2	2,7
6	Brazil	6,9	5,0	2,9
7	Panama	5,5	4,7	–
8	Argentina	5,5	3,5	0,4
9	Puerto Rico	5,4	4,6	2,8
10	Bahamas	4,8	4,2	2,3

Asia and the Pacific

Rank	Region	International tourism receipts (US$ million) (2019) [5]
1	Thailand	60,521
2	Japan	46,054
3	Australia	45,709
4	Macau	40,060
5	China	35,832
6	India	30,720
7	Hong Kong	29,043
8	South Korea	21,628
9	Singapore	20,052
10	Malaysia	19,823

Europe

Rank	Region	International tourism receipts (US$ billion) (2022) [5]
1	Spain	72,9
2	United Kingdom	68,2
3	France	59,7
4	Italy	44,3
5	Turkey	41,2
6	Germany	31,5
7	Portugal	22,2
8	Austria	19,2
9	Greece	18,6
10	Switzerland	16,2

West Asia

Rank	Region	International tourism receipts (US$ million) (2019) [5]
1	United Arab Emirates	21,800
2	Saudi Arabia	16,382
3	Egypt	13,030
4	Lebanon	8,593
5	Israel	7,600
6	Jordan	5,786
7	Qatar	5,442
8	Iran	4,402*
9	Bahrain	3,681
10	Iraq	3,593
Note: Number for Iran is for 2017.

International tourism expenditure

The World Tourism Organization reports the following source markets as the top ten spenders on international tourism for the year 2022 and 2023, with China and the United States by far being the top spender:

Rank	Country	International tourism expenditure (2023) [4]	International tourism expenditure (2022) [3]	Change (local currency) (2021 to 2022) (%) [3]
1	China	$196.5 billion	$114.8 billion	71.1%
2	United States	$150.0 billion	$114.9 billion	30.5%
3	Germany	$111.9 billion	$89.4 billion	25.1%
4	United Kingdom	$110.3 billion	―	―
5	France	$49.0 billion	$47.7 billion	2.7%
6	Canada	$38.3 billion	$24.4 billion	56.9%
7	Italy	$34.2 billion	$26.5 billion	29%
8	India	$33.3 billion	$25.9 billion	28.5%
9	Russia	$33.0 billion	―	―
10	South Korea	$27.8 billion	―	―

See also

• List of cities by international visitors
• Tourism
• World Travel Monitor

References

1. "World Tourism Barometer" (PDF). World Tourism Organization. 21 May 2024. p. 5. ISSN   1728-9246 . Retrieved 24 June 2024.
2. "Global and regional tourism performance". www.unwto.org. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
3. "International Tourism – 2023 starts on a strong note with the Middle East recovering 2019 levels in the first quarter" (PDF). webunwto.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 August 2023.
4. "World Tourism Barometer" (PDF). World Tourism Organization. May 2024. p. 19. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
5. "UNWTO World Tourism Barometer and Statistical Annex, December 2020 | World Tourism Organization". UNWTO World Tourism Barometer (English Version). 18 (7): 1–36. 18 December 2020. doi: 10.18111/wtobarometereng.2020.18.1.7 . S2CID   241989515.
6. "WEF T&T report" (PDF). Travel & Tourism Development Index 2024: 97. 2024.
7. Travel & Tourism Development Index 2024 | World Economic Forum
8. "WTO/ Member States of Middle East". World Tourism Organization . Retrieved 16 January 2015.
9. "Global and regional tourism performance". www.unwto.org. Retrieved 26 January 2025.
10. "World Tourism Barometer Statistical Annex" (PDF). The World Tourism Organization.
11. "International tourist arrivals by country 2023". Statista.
12. Gan, Nectar (18 January 2024). "Number of foreign visitors to China in 2023 down more than 60% from pre-pandemic levels". CNN . Retrieved 12 October 2024.

External links

• Official website
• List of countries by international inbound tourists