Tourist Arrivals
Tourist Arrivals by country
Commentary
Notable countries
France leads by a wide margin with 100 million tourist arrivals, ahead of Spain at 85.17 million and the United States at 66.48 million. Europe dominates the top 10, taking six spots, while Turkey and China represent Asia and Mexico and the United States represent North America. At the bottom, North Korea records 0 arrivals, and several very small island states in Oceania, including Tuvalu, Nauru, and the Marshall Islands, are near zero. A notable contrast is that Turkey ranks fifth globally, ahead of several larger economies.
Regional trends
Europe has by far the highest continental average at 14.22 million, more than double Asia's 7.3 million and North America's 7.083 million. Asia and North America form a second tier with similar averages, while South America is much lower at 2.787 million. Africa averages 1.413 million and Oceania 0.8073 million, the lowest of all regions. These averages align with the strong European presence at the top and the concentration of several Oceania countries at the bottom.
Data source
The data come from UNWTO 2023 and are measured in millions of tourist arrivals by country. Coverage includes 196 countries. Values are reported as arrivals, so they reflect inbound visitor counts rather than broader tourism revenue or economic impact.
Interpretation
Higher values indicate that a country attracts more international visitors, which generally points to stronger tourism appeal or capacity. Lower values mean fewer inbound tourists, though this can reflect small population size, remoteness, or restricted access as much as weak demand. With a mean of 6.5 million and a large standard deviation of 13.55, the distribution is highly uneven. Overall, global tourism arrivals are concentrated in a relatively small group of countries, especially in Europe.