World Tourism rankings
The World Tourism rankings are compiled by the United Nations World Tourism Organization as part of their World Tourism Barometer publication, which is released three times throughout the year. In the publication, UN regions and subregions are ranked by the number of international visitor arrivals, by the revenue generated by inbound tourism, and by the expenditures of outbound travelers.
Most visited destinations by international tourist arrivals
In 2017, there were 1.323 billion international tourist arrivals worldwide, with a growth of 6.8% as compared to 2016.[1] The top 10 international tourism destinations in 2017 were (2017 numbers are preliminary, US numbers not yet available):
Rank | Destination | International tourist arrivals (2017)[1] |
International tourist arrivals (2016)[1] | Change (2016 to 2017) (%) | Change (2015 to 2016) (%) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 86.9 million | 82.7 million | |||
2 | 81.8 million | 75.3 million | |||
3 | 76.9 million | 75.6 million | |||
4 | 60.7 million | 59.3 million | |||
5 | 58.3 million | 52.4 million | |||
6 | 39.3 million | 35.1 million | |||
7 | 37.7 million | 35.8 million | |||
8 | 37.6 million | 30.3 million | |||
9 | 37.5 million | 35.6 million | |||
10 | 35.4 million | 32.6 million |
Africa
In 2016, there were over 57.8 million international tourist arrivals to Africa, an increase of 7.8% from 2015. Preliminary numbers for 2017 indicate a similar increase.[1] In 2016, the top ten African destinations were:
Rank | Destination | International tourist arrivals (2016)[1] |
International tourist arrivals (2015)[3] | Change (2015 to 2016) (%) | Change (2014 to 2015) (%) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 10.3 million | 10.2 million | ||||
2 | 10.0 million | 8.9 million | ||||
3 | 5.7 million | 5.4 million | ||||
4 | 5.3 million | 9.1 million | ||||
5 | 2.2 million | 2.0 million | ||||
6 | 2.0 million | 1.7 million | ||||
7 | 1.9 million | 1.3 million | – | |||
8 | 1.6 million | 1.6 million | ||||
9 | 1.6 million | 1.4 million | ||||
10 | 1.5 million | 1.4 million | ||||
Note: Egypt is classified under "Middle East" in the UNWTO.[4] |
Americas
In 2017, there were 208.7 million international tourist arrivals to the Americas, an increase of 4.0%.[1] In 2017, the top ten destinations were (2017 numbers are preliminary, US and Cuba numbers not yet available):
Rank | Destination | International tourist arrivals (2017)[1] |
International tourist arrivals (2016)[1] | Change (2016 to 2017) (%) | Change (2015 to 2016) (%) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 76.9 million | 75.6 million | |||
2 | 39.3 million | 35.1 million | |||
3 | 20.8 million | 20.0 million | |||
4 | 6.7 million | 6.6 million | |||
5 | 6.6 million | 6.5 million | |||
6 | 6.5 million | 5.6 million | |||
7 | 6.2 million | 6.0 million | |||
8 | – | 4.0 million | – | ||
9 | 4.0 million | 3.7 million | |||
10 | 4.0 million | 3.3 million |
Asia-Pacific
In 2017, there were over 323 million international tourist arrivals to Asia-Pacific, an increase of 5.6% over 2016.[1] In 2017, the top ten destinations were (2017 numbers are preliminary):
Rank | Destination | International tourist arrivals (2017)[1] |
International tourist arrivals (2016)[1] | Change (2016 to 2017) (%) | Change (2015 to 2016) (%) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 60.7 million | 59.3 million | |||
2 | 35.4 million | 32.6 million | |||
3 | 28.7 million | 24.0 million | |||
4 | 27.9 million | 26.6 million | |||
5 | 26.0 million | 26.8 million | |||
6 | 17.3 million | 15.7 million | |||
7 | 15.5 million | 14.6 million | |||
8 | 13.9 million | 12.9 million | |||
9 | 13.3 million | 17.2 million | |||
10 | 12.9 million | 11.0 million |
Europe
In 2017, there were over 670 million international tourist arrivals to Europe, an increase of 8.3% over 2016.[1] In 2017, the top ten destinations were (2017 numbers are preliminary):
Rank | Destination | International tourist arrivals (2017)[1] |
International tourist arrivals (2016)[1] | Change (2016 to 2017) (%) | Change (2015 to 2016) (%) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 86.9 million | 82.7 million | |||
2 | 81.8 million | 75.3 million | |||
3 | 58.3 million | 52.4 million | |||
4 | 37.7 million | 35.8 million | |||
5 | 37.6 million | 30.3 million | |||
6 | 37.5 million | 35.6 million | |||
7 | 29.5 million | 28.1 million | |||
8 | 27.2 million | 24.8 million | |||
9 | 24.4 million | 24.6 million | |||
10 | 18.4 million | 17.5 million |
Middle East
In 2016, there were 55,6 million international tourist arrivals to the Middle East (excluding Turkey, Iran and Israel), a decrease of 4.4% over 2015. Preliminary numbers for 2017 indicate an increase of 4.6%.[1] In 2016, the top ten destinations were:
Rank | Destination | International tourist arrivals (2016)[1] |
International tourist arrivals (2015)[3] | Change (2015 to 2016) (%) | Change (2014 to 2015) (%) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 30.3 million | 39.5 million | ||||
2 | 18.0 million | 18.0 million | ||||
3 | 14.9 million | 14.2 million | ||||
4 | 5.3 million | 9.1 million | ||||
5 | 4.9 million | 5.2 million | ||||
6 | 3.6 million | 3.8 million | ||||
7 | 2.9 million | 2.9 million | ||||
8 | 2.9 million | 2.8 million | ||||
9 | 2.3 million | 1.9 million | ||||
10 | 1.7 million | 1.5 million | ||||
Note: Iran is classified as part of "South Asia" in the UNWTO.[4]
Turkey and Israel are classified as part of "Southern/Medit.Europe" in the UNWTO.[4] |
International tourism receipts
International tourism receipts grew to US$1,340 billion in 2017, corresponding to an increase in real terms of 4.9% from 2016.[1] The World Tourism Organization reports the following destinations as the top ten tourism earners for the year 2017, with the United States by far the top earner.
Rank | Region | International tourism receipts (US$ billion) (2017)[1] |
International tourism receipts (US$ billion) |
Change (2016 to 2017) (%) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 210.7 | 206.9 | ||
2 | 68.0 | 60.5 | ||
3 | 60.7 | 54.5 | ||
4 | 57.5 | 48.8 | ||
5 | 51.2 | 47.9 | ||
6 | 44.2 | 40.2 | ||
7 | 41.7 | 37.0 | ||
8 | 39.8 | 37.5 | ||
9 | 35.6 | 30.4 | ||
10 | 34.1 | 30.7 |
Africa
Rank | Region | International tourism receipts (US$ million) (2017)[1] |
---|---|---|
1 | 8,818 | |
2 | 7,775 | |
3 | 7,417 | |
4 | 2,549 | |
5 | 2,339 | |
6 | 1,748 | |
7 | 1,299 | |
8 | 1,029 | |
9 | 926 | |
10 | 918 |
Americas
Rank | Region | International tourism receipts (US$ million) (2017)[1] |
---|---|---|
1 | 210,747 | |
2 | 21,333 | |
3 | 20,328 | |
4 | 7,178 | |
5 | 5,809 | |
6 | 5,060 | |
7 | 4,821 | |
8 | 4,452 | |
9 | 4,090 | |
10 | 3,876 |
Asia-Pacific
Rank | Region | International tourism receipts (US$ million) (2017)[1] |
---|---|---|
1 | 57,477 | |
2 | 41,732 | |
3 | 35,575 | |
4 | 34,054 | |
5 | 33,304 | |
6 | 32,617 | |
7 | 27,365 | |
8 | 19,707 | |
9 | 18,323 | |
10 | 13,427 |
Europe
Rank | Region | International tourism receipts (US$ million) (2017)[1] |
---|---|---|
1 | 67,964 | |
2 | 60,681 | |
3 | 51,211 | |
4 | 44,233 | |
5 | 39,823 | |
6 | 22,478 | |
7 | 20,400 | |
8 | 17,003 | |
9 | 16,528 | |
10 | 15,867 |
Middle East
Rank | Region | International tourism receipts (US$ million) (2017)[1] |
---|---|---|
1 | 22,478 | |
2 | 21,048 | |
3 | 12,056 | |
4 | 7,611 | |
5 | 7,775 | |
6 | 6,821 | |
7 | 5,971 | |
8 | 4,639 | |
9 | 3,713* | |
10 | 2,423* | |
Note: Numbers for Iran and Iraq are for 2016. |
International tourism expenditures
The World Tourism Organization reports the following source countries as the top ten spenders on international tourism for the year 2017, with China by far being the top spender:
Rank | Country | International tourism expenditure (2017)[1] |
International tourism expenditure (2016)[6] |
Change (2016 to 2017) (%) [1] |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | $257.7 billion | $250.1 billion | ||
2 | $135.0 billion | $123.6 billion | ||
3 | $89.1 billion | $79.8 billion | ||
4 | $71.4 billion | $64.8 billion | ||
5 | $41.4 billion | $40.3 billion | ||
6 | $34.2 billion | $30.8 billion | ||
7 | $31.8 billion | $28.7 billion | ||
8 | $31.1 billion | $24.0 billion | ||
9 | $30.6 billion | $27.2 billion | ||
10 | $27.7 billion | $25.0 billion |
See also
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 "UNWTO Tourism Highlights: 2018 Edition | World Tourism Organization". doi:10.18111/9789284419029.
- ↑ https://www.e-unwto.org/doi/pdf/10.18111/9789284419876
- 1 2 "UNWTO Tourism Highlights 2017 Edition | World Tourism Organization".
- 1 2 3 "WTO/ Member States of Middle East". World Tourism Organization. Retrieved 2015-01-16.
- ↑ https://www.e-unwto.org/doi/pdf/10.18111/9789284419876
- ↑ "UNWTO World Tourism Barometer April 2018" (PDF).