Most Popular Tourist Countries

Popular Tourist Countries tourist arrivals 1995-2016
tourist arrivals 1995-2016

History of tourism – most popular tourist countries | Our last article in this series takes a look at the popular travel destinations country wise. According to Wikipedia, France is the number 1 destination for leisure seeking travelers. Staggering 84 million international tourists did arrive in France in 2016. That exceeds the population of France by 17 million (French population: 67 mill).

In large parts tourism happens within Europe. As you can see in our top 10 list of Most popular Tourist Countries, non-European contributors are rare: U.S., China and Mexico. One might now argue that Russia and Turkey have large parts of their countries located in Asia. Ok, but let’s be honest. How much tourism is going on in Siberia or Kurdistan?

Popular Tourist Countries

1) France -> 84 million international tourists in 2016
2) United States -> 75 million
3) Spain -> 65 million
4) China -> 55 million
5) Italy -> 48 million
6) Turkey -> 40 million
7) Germany -> 33 million
8) United Kingdom -> 32 million
9) Russia -> 29 million
10) Mexico -> 29 million

Popular Tourist Countries France Paris
Paris #1 tourist destination worldwide. Photo by The Traveling Chili.

Another interesting statistics shows the origin of all these international tourists. WTO (World Tourist Organisation) published this list of top 10 biggest spenders on international tourism. No surprise: China is rising. But amazingly Australia with just 24 million inhabitants made it into this list too. Therefore “a few” Australians must be traveling up and down the planet a freaking lot to claim the #9 spot.

Biggest Spenders on International Tourism

1) China -> $164.9 billion spent abroad (divided by 1,39 billion = $118 per person)
2) United States -> $110.8 billion (divided by 328 million people = $338 per person)
3) Germany -> $92.2 billion (divided by 82 million people = $1,124 per person)
4) United Kingdom -> $57.6 billion (divided by 66 million = $873 per person)
5) Russia -> $50.4 billion (divided by 146 million = $345 per person)
6) France -> $47.8 billion (divided by 67 million = $713 per person)
7) Canada -> $33.8 billion (divided by 37 million = $913 per person)
8) Italy -> $28.8 billion (divided by 60 million = $480 per person)
9) Australia -> $26.3 billion (divided by 25 million = $1,052 per person)
10) Brazil -> $25.6 billion (divided by 209 million inhabitants = $122 per person)

The biggest spenders per person are Germany and Australia. These two nations seem to have the deepest wallets, spending $1k+ per person on traveling abroad.

Popular Tourist Countries
Chinese tourists … and yes, there will be more coming your way :)
Popular Tourist Countries France. Pick your property here.
Popular Tourist Countries: France is #1. Pick your property here.

Popular Tourist Countries. By Chili and Churp | © International Destinations | Read more articles on the History of Tourism here:  | Beginning of Leisure Tourism 1844 | Beginning of Winter Tourism 1860 | First Cruise Ship 1900 | Sex Tourism since 1950s | Space Tourism since 2009 | Tourism in AntarcticaForgotten Tourist Destinations