The 10 Most Visited Countries in the World
Ranked by international tourist arrivals — see who actually draws the most travelers, and why that isn't the same as who earns the most from them.
Quick Answer
France is the most visited country in the world, with 102 million international tourist arrivals in 2024 — the first country to surpass 100 million arrivals in a single year. That's nearly 2.8 times the arrivals of Japan, which rounds out the #10 spot at 36.9 million. The top 3 countries alone (France, Spain, and the United States) account for nearly 44% of this entire top 10's combined arrivals.
This ranking uses international tourist arrivals — the measure UN Tourism (UNWTO) uses to count overnight foreign visitors — rather than tourism revenue, which produces a meaningfully different list (see the callout below). Figures reflect full-year 2024, the most recent completed dataset, sourced from UN Tourism's official World Tourism Barometer alongside individual national tourism authority reports. This ranking counts sovereign countries only: Hong Kong and Macau, which UN Tourism tracks as separate statistical destinations from mainland China due to their distinct immigration systems, are excluded here since they aren't sovereign countries — both would otherwise rank in the top 10 by raw arrival numbers.
Why doesn't the US top this list, if it earns the most tourism money?
The United States ranks 3rd by arrivals but 1st by tourism revenue, earning an estimated $215 billion in 2024 — far more than France's $77.1 billion, despite France receiving nearly 30 million more visitors. The average U.S.-bound tourist spends significantly more per trip than the typical visitor to France. "Most visited" and "most profitable to tourism" are simply different measurements — this ranking tracks visitor volume, not visitor spending.
International Tourist Arrivals — 2024 · Millions
Source: UN Tourism (UNWTO) World Tourism Barometer; national tourism authoritiesTap any country to jump to their full breakdown below.
Ranked #10 to #1
- International tourist arrivals:
- 36.9 million arrivals
- Category:
- Asia-Pacific
- Revenue sources:
- Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Mount Fuji
Japan barely edges into the top 10, but 2024 was still a landmark year: arrivals surged 47.1% year-over-year to a record 36.9 million, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization, driven largely by a historically weak yen that made the country significantly cheaper for foreign visitors.
The tourism boom brought real overtourism strain — Mount Fuji introduced a daily visitor cap and a toll on its most popular climbing trail in 2024, and Japan's arrivals edged out Greece (36.0 million) for the final top-10 spot by less than a million visitors.
Source: Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO), via Reuters
Germany
Berlin- International tourist arrivals:
- 37.5 million arrivals
- Category:
- Europe
- Revenue sources:
- Berlin, Munich, Bavarian Alps
Germany draws steady, broad-based tourism from culture, history, and seasonal travel, without any single overwhelming attraction dominating arrivals the way Paris or Rome do for their countries.
Most of Germany's foreign visitors come from neighboring European countries, reflecting its central location and dense rail and road connections across the continent.
Source: UN Tourism (UNWTO) World Tourism Barometer
- International tourist arrivals:
- 41.7 million arrivals
- Category:
- Europe
- Revenue sources:
- London, Edinburgh, Bath
London accounts for the large majority of the UK's international arrivals, anchored by the British Museum, the Tower of London, and the West End, while Edinburgh, Bath, and Stratford-upon-Avon draw travelers beyond the capital.
Visitors from the United States and continental Europe make up the bulk of the UK's foreign arrivals.
Source: UN Tourism (UNWTO) World Tourism Barometer
- International tourist arrivals:
- 45.0 million arrivals
- Category:
- Americas
- Revenue sources:
- Cancún, Riviera Maya, Mexico City
Mexico receives more international visitors than any other country in Latin America, led by Caribbean-coast beach resorts — Cancún and the Riviera Maya account for much of the total, alongside Mexico City's museums and food scene and the Maya archaeological sites of the Yucatán.
The United States supplies the large majority of Mexico's foreign visitors. Mexico's 45.0 million arrivals essentially tied Hong Kong's 2024 tourism numbers — though Hong Kong isn't counted in this ranking as a sovereign country.
Source: UN Tourism (UNWTO) World Tourism Barometer
- International tourist arrivals:
- 57.7 million arrivals
- Category:
- Europe
- Revenue sources:
- Rome, Venice, Florence
Rome, Venice, and Florence remain among the most recognizable travel destinations on Earth, anchoring Italy's position in the global top 10 despite intensifying competition from nearby Türkiye.
Venice has introduced entry fees for day-trippers in recent years, one of several European hotspots responding directly to overtourism pressure.
Source: UN Tourism (UNWTO) World Tourism Barometer
- International tourist arrivals:
- 60.5 million arrivals
- Category:
- Europe/Asia
- Revenue sources:
- Istanbul, Antalya
Istanbul — straddling Europe and Asia across the Bosporus — is Türkiye's main gateway, while the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya drives enormous beach-tourism traffic on its own.
Türkiye's own tourism ministry, which also counts Turkish citizens living abroad in its figures, reports a total above 62 million — slightly higher than the 60.5 million international-visitor figure used here from UN Tourism's standardized measure.
Source: UN Tourism (UNWTO) World Tourism Barometer
- International tourist arrivals:
- 64.9 million arrivals
- Category:
- Asia-Pacific
- Revenue sources:
- Beijing, Shanghai, Great Wall of China
China's arrivals jumped a striking 82.8% in 2024 as inbound travel recovered from a slow pandemic reopening, vaulting the country back into the global top 5 — a sharp reversal that several English-language tourism roundups missed or reported as a continued absence.
China's National Immigration Administration recorded over 610 million total exit-entry trips in 2024, including roughly 64.9 million by foreign nationals — expanded visa-free transit policies for many countries were a major driver of the rebound.
Source: China National Immigration Administration
- International tourist arrivals:
- 72.3 million arrivals
- Category:
- Americas
- Revenue sources:
- New York, national parks, Los Angeles
The United States ranks 3rd by arrivals but 1st by tourism revenue — see the callout above for why those are two different measurements, not a contradiction in the data.
At $215 billion in 2024 tourism receipts, the US earns roughly 2.8x what France earns from tourism, despite hosting nearly 30 million fewer visitors.
Source: UN Tourism (UNWTO) World Tourism Barometer
- International tourist arrivals:
- 93.7 million arrivals
- Category:
- Europe
- Revenue sources:
- Barcelona, Madrid, Balearic and Canary Islands
Spain's appeal is unusually broad — beaches, islands, cities, and culture all draw large numbers at once, led by the Mediterranean coast plus the Balearic and Canary Islands alongside Barcelona, Madrid, and Seville.
Spain's tourism boom has come with real friction: the country has seen public protests over overtourism in Barcelona and the Balearic Islands as visitor volumes have grown.
Source: UN Tourism (UNWTO) World Tourism Barometer
- International tourist arrivals:
- 102.0 million arrivals
- Category:
- Europe
- Revenue sources:
- Paris, French Riviera, Alps
France became the first country to surpass 100 million international tourist arrivals in a single year in 2024, a milestone partly lifted by the Paris Olympics, and has held the #1 spot in this ranking for decades.
France's total is nearly 2.8x Japan's arrivals at #10, and most of its foreign visitors come from neighboring European countries — giving it an unusually large, geographically close visitor base compared to more distant destinations.
Source: UN Tourism (UNWTO) World Tourism Barometer
What the numbers tell us
France's arrivals are nearly 2.8x Japan's, and the top 3 countries (France, Spain, and the US) together account for nearly 44% of this entire top 10's combined arrivals. China's return to the top 5 — arrivals jumped 82.8% in 2024 — was one of the year's biggest tourism stories, after several tourism roundups incorrectly continued reporting it as absent from the top 10.
- Data period:
- Full-year 2024 (latest completed data as of September 2026)
- Last updated:
- September 23, 2026
- Sources:
- UN Tourism (UNWTO) World Tourism Barometer and International Tourism Highlights – 2025 Edition; China National Immigration Administration; Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO)
Figures reflect completed full-year 2024 international tourist arrivals, the standard measure UN Tourism (UNWTO) uses for overnight foreign visitors. This ranking counts sovereign countries only — Hong Kong and Macau are tracked as separate statistical destinations by UN Tourism due to their distinct immigration systems, but are not sovereign countries, so both are excluded here despite each recording roughly 45 million arrivals in 2024 (which would otherwise place them in the top 10). An earlier version of this article, based on secondary tourism-roundup sites, incorrectly excluded China from the ranking entirely; that error was caught and corrected by cross-checking against UN Tourism's official data and national tourism authority reports directly.
Figures marked as estimates are based on publicly available information and may vary from other published sources.
Frequently Asked Questions
France, with 102 million international tourist arrivals in 2024 — the first country to surpass 100 million arrivals in a single year.