Table - International tourism

The table compares the five highest ranking countries in terms of the numbers of visits and the money spent by tourists over a period of two years.

It is clear that France was the world’s most popular tourist destination in the years 2012 and 2013. However, the USA erned by far the most revenue from tourism over the same period.

In 2012, 83 million tourists visited France, and the USA was the second most visited country, with 66.7 million tourists. Spain and China each received just under 58 million trouists. while Italy was ranked fifth with 46.4 mmillion tourists. 2013 saw a rise of between 1 and 3 million trouist visits to each country, with the exception of China, which received 2 million fewer visitors than in the previous year.

Spending by tourists visiting the USA increased from $126.2 billion in 2012 to $139.6 billion in 2013, and these figures were well over twice as high as those for any country. Spain received the second hightest amounts of tourist revenue, rising from $56.3 billion to $60.4 billion. followed by France, China and Italy. Interestingly, despite falling numbers of tourists, Chinese revenue from tourism rose by $1.7 billion in 2013.