Most visited countries: 2024 tourism comparison

What the leading destinations show

France reports 100.0 million tourist arrivals, followed by Spain at 93.8 million and United States at 72.3 million. These are arrival events over a year. One person taking three trips can contribute three arrivals, while a resident taking domestic holidays is outside this international measure.

The top positions describe volume, not visitor satisfaction, spending or dependence on tourism. A destination receiving many short trips may record more arrivals than one hosting fewer visitors for longer stays. To compare the economic role of tourism, spending, nights and tourism’s contribution to output would each provide a different part of the picture.

International tourist arrivals

This table covers 48 countries with 2024 tourist observations in the selected OECD source. It is a ranking within that coverage, not a claim to include every destination in the world. Missing entries should not be interpreted as receiving fewer visitors than the last country shown.

48 countries. Scroll the table for all entries. Base rank follows the page’s main measure; sorting another column keeps that rank.

International tourist arrivals, 2024: countries covered by OECD Tourism Trends and Policies 2026.

Base rank	Country ↕	Tourist arrivals, 2024 ↕	Source measurement note ↕
1	France	100,000,000	Estimate
2	Spain	93,759,297	Tourist arrivals; no accommodation-survey note
3	United States	72,296,865	Tourist arrivals; no accommodation-survey note
4	Turkey	60,575,773	Tourist arrivals; no accommodation-survey note
5	Italy	57,725,148	Tourist arrivals; no accommodation-survey note
6	Mexico	45,038,754	Tourist arrivals; no accommodation-survey note
7	United Kingdom	38,229,000	Tourist arrivals; no accommodation-survey note
8	Germany	37,419,799	Accommodation survey
9	Thailand	35,545,714	Tourist arrivals; no accommodation-survey note
10	Austria	32,195,289	Accommodation survey
11	Saudi Arabia	29,727,443	Tourist arrivals; no accommodation-survey note
12	Greece	27,376,639	Accommodation survey
13	Netherlands	21,277,000	Accommodation survey
14	Portugal	20,486,340	Accommodation survey
15	Canada	19,912,926	Tourist arrivals; no accommodation-survey note
16	Poland	19,723,000	Tourist arrivals; no accommodation-survey note
17	Morocco	17,411,949	Tourist arrivals; no accommodation-survey note
18	Croatia	17,378,721	Tourist arrivals; no accommodation-survey note
19	Egypt	15,723,790	Tourist arrivals; no accommodation-survey note
20	Hungary	12,344,754	Tourist arrivals; no accommodation-survey note
21	Switzerland	12,312,662	Accommodation survey
22	Czech Republic	10,477,528	Accommodation survey
23	South Africa	8,919,000	Tourist arrivals; no accommodation-survey note
24	Sweden	8,684,886	Accommodation survey
25	Denmark	8,528,144	Tourist arrivals; no accommodation-survey note
26	Brazil	6,773,619	Tourist arrivals; no accommodation-survey note
27	Norway	6,670,410	Accommodation survey
28	Belgium	6,627,533	Accommodation survey
29	Argentina	6,603,877	Tourist arrivals; no accommodation-survey note
30	Ireland	6,591,600	Break in series in 2023
31	Chile	5,239,233	Tourist arrivals; no accommodation-survey note
32	Slovenia	5,053,536	Accommodation survey
33	Bulgaria	3,770,036	Tourist arrivals; no accommodation-survey note
34	Malta	3,563,618	Tourist arrivals; no accommodation-survey note
35	Peru	3,256,693	Tourist arrivals; no accommodation-survey note
36	New Zealand	3,175,839	Tourist arrivals; no accommodation-survey note
37	Costa Rica	2,919,483	Tourist arrivals; no accommodation-survey note
38	Finland	2,903,960	Accommodation survey
39	Estonia	2,656,590	Tourist arrivals; no accommodation-survey note
40	Montenegro	2,446,563	Tourist arrivals; no accommodation-survey note
41	Romania	2,412,810	Tourist arrivals; no accommodation-survey note
42	Serbia	2,384,735	Tourist arrivals; no accommodation-survey note
43	Lithuania	2,383,300	Tourist arrivals; no accommodation-survey note
44	Iceland	2,279,865	Tourist arrivals; no accommodation-survey note
45	Slovakia	2,165,345	Accommodation survey
46	Latvia	1,587,158	Accommodation survey
47	Luxembourg	1,364,853	Accommodation survey
48	Israel	961,300	Tourist arrivals; no accommodation-survey note

15 entries are explicitly marked as accommodation surveys. Those observations measure activity through lodging establishments and may omit stays with relatives, unregistered accommodation or other categories outside the survey. They can also count a traveller more than once across establishments. Reading the measurement note is essential before interpreting a small difference in rank.

Broader visitor counts belong in a separate table

A tourist stays overnight; a same-day visitor does not. The following 5 countries report the broader visitor measure in this source. Placing their figures into the tourist ranking would reward a wider counting definition rather than establish a like-for-like difference in tourism.

5 countries. Scroll the table for all entries.

International visitors, including same-day visits; separate from the tourist-arrivals ranking.

Country ↕	Visitor arrivals, 2024 ↕
Japan	36,870,148
South Korea	16,369,629
Indonesia	13,886,678
Australia	8,270,900
Colombia	7,071,459

This distinction matters particularly when a destination has frequent cross-border day trips. Two countries could receive the same number of overnight tourists but different numbers of total visitors. Keeping the measures separate avoids presenting those two questions as one league table.

How to use arrivals without overreading them

Do more arrivals mean a destination is overcrowded?

Not necessarily. Annual national totals do not show seasonality or concentration within a few neighbourhoods, islands or landmarks. Crowding is experienced in a place at a time. A country with fewer annual arrivals may still have intense local pressure during its busiest weeks.

Do arrivals measure holidays only?

No. International tourism statistics can include qualifying trips for business, visiting friends and relatives and other personal purposes. The purpose of a visit and whether it includes an overnight stay are separate classifications. An arrivals table should not be described as a count of beach holidays or leisure travellers alone.

Can I infer tourism recovery from this table?

A one-year table cannot establish recovery or growth. That requires an earlier observation measured on the same basis. Changes in border procedures, survey coverage or definitions can also interrupt comparability. We keep this page focused on the documented 2024 cross-section rather than adding unsupported growth claims.

For trip planning, use this ranking to understand relative scale, then investigate the actual city or region, season, transport and accommodation. The most visited country is not automatically the most suitable destination for a particular journey.