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Top 100 International Tourist Destination Cities By Country

January 24, 2015 26 Comments

Top 100 tourist cities by country

Number of Top 100 international tourist destination cities in each country. Created with mapchart.net

Which city is the most popular international tourist destination? Surprisingly, it’s not Paris, London or New York.

According to 2012 data from Euromonitor International, the number one tourist destination in the world was Hong Kong with 23.7 million visitors.

Singapore and Bangkok were ranked numbers 2 and 3 respectively, showing just how much Asian tourism has grown in recent years. London, at number 4, was the top ranked non-Asian city with 15.5 million international visitors and New York City, at number 8, was the most visited city in the Americas with 11.6 million tourists.

When looking at countries as a whole, the map at the top of the page is revealing. At first glance it shows just how few African countries made the list. Another interesting finding is that while London is the 4th most visited city, it’s the only UK city to make the list. Moreover, while many European countries have top 100 cities (Switzerland being a notable exception) none has more than Italy’s 4.

But that’s nothing compared to the big 3 who dominate the list:

  • India has 6 cities on the list: Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Kolkata.
  • The United States has 8: New York City, Las Vegas, Miami, Los Angeles, Orlando, San Francisco, Honolulu, Washington D.C.
  • And, China has whopping 9 cities: Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou, Zhuhai, Suzhou, Guilin, Nanjing.

Plus, this doesn’t include Hong Kong (#1) and Macau (#5), which ae both Special Administrative Regions of the People’s Republic of China.

Below are the complete rankings. Please note if you click on a city you’ll be taken to HotelsCombined where you can compare the cost of local hotels:

RankCityCountryTourists (Millions)
1Hong KongHong Kong23.7
2SingaporeSingapore21.3
3BangkokThailand15.8
4LondonUK15.5
5MacauMacau13.4
6Kuala LumpurMalaysia13.3
7ShenzhenChina12.1
8New York CityUSA11.6
9AntalyaTurkey10.3
10ParisFrance9.8
11IstanbulTurkey8.8
12RomeItaly8.7
13DubaiUAE8
14GuangzhouChina7.9
15PhuketThailand7.2
16MeccaSaudi Arabia6.9
17PattayaThailand6.6
18Taipei CityTaiwan6.6
19PragueCzech Republic6.5
20ShanghaiChina6.5
21Las VegasUSA6.3
22MiamiUSA6
23BarcelonaSpain5.5
24MoscowRussia5
25BeijingChina5
26Los AngelesUSA5
27BudapestHungary4.8
28ViennaAustria4.3
29AmsterdamNetherlands4.3
30SofiaBulgaria4.1
31MadridSpain4.1
32OrlandoUSA4.1
33Ho Chi Minh CityVietnam3.9
34LimaPeru3.8
35BerlinGermany3.8
36TokyoJapan3.7
37WarsawPoland3.7
38ChennaiIndia3.5
39CairoEgypt3.5
40NairobiKenya3.4
41HangzhouChina3.4
42MilanItaly3.3
43San FranciscoUSA3.2
44Buenos AiresArgentina3.2
45VeniceItaly3.2
46Mexico CityMexico3.1
47DublinIreland3.1
48SeoulSouth Korea3
49MuglaTurkey3
50MumbaiIndia3
51DenpasarIndonesia3
52DelhiIndia2.9
53TorontoCanada2.8
54ZhuhaiChina2.7
55St PetersburgRussia2.7
56BurgasBulgaria2.7
57SydneyAustralia2.7
58DjerbaTunisia2.6
59MunichGermany2.6
60JohannesburgSouth Africa2.6
61CancunMexico2.6
62EdirneTurkey2.6
63SuzhouChina2.5
64BucharestRomania2.4
65Punta CanaDominican Republic2.4
66AgraIndia2.4
67JaipurIndia2.3
68BrusselsBelgium2.3
69NiceFrance2.2
70Chiang MaiThailand2.2
71Sharm el-SheikhEgypt2.2
72LisbonPortugal2.2
73East ProvinceSaudi Arabia2.2
74MarrakechMorocco2.1
75JakartaIndonesia2.1
76ManamaBahrain2
77HanoiVietnam2
78HonoluluUSA2
79ManilaPhilippines2
80GuilinChina2
81AucklandNew Zealand2
82Siem ReapCambodia1.9
83SousseTunisia1.9
84AmmanJordan1.9
85VancouverCanada1.9
86Abu DhabiUAE1.9
87KievUkraine1.9
88DohaQatar1.9
89FlorenceItaly1.8
90Rio de JaneiroBrazil1.8
91MelbourneAustralia1.8
92Washington D.C.USA1.7
93RiyadhSaudi Arabia1.7
94ChristchurchNew Zealand1.7
95FrankfurtGermany1.7
96BakuAzerbaijan1.7
97Sao PauloBrazil1.7
98HarareZimbabwe1.7
99KolkataIndia1.6
100NanjingChina1.6

The data all comes from this Euromonitor International report. I’d strongly encourage you to read it if you’re curious about their methodology and other interesting findings.

If you’d like to learn about the growth of international tourism, have a look at the following books:

  • Overbooked: The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism
  • Rick Steves Travel as a Political Act
  • 1,000 Places to See Before You Die, the second edition: Completely Revised and Updated with Over 200 New Entries

Did your favourite city not make the list? Let us know in the comments below:

Filed Under: World Maps Tagged With: tourism

Comments

  1. Sporxx says

    March 10, 2015 at 2:09 pm

    How about Jerusalem?

    Reply
  2. Sa says

    March 11, 2015 at 3:20 am

    The results are biased. HK does get a massive flow of tourist but this can be explained by the fact that HK airport is a massive hub (works the same for Singapore airport). It’s not a touristic destination in itself, providing the tourist facilities out of HK international airport (very few) and the time people actually spend in hk. It’s more a stop over than a touristic destination. Then, you have the flow of Chinese tourists that cross the border on week ends to go shopping in HK. sqame situation, they benefit to the economy but can they actually be counted as part of the touristic industry ?

    So yes, in term of people you can rank it that way but the figures do not say what kind of flows arrive to HK.

    Reply
    • Warren Lauzon says

      January 20, 2018 at 8:41 pm

      No, it is not based on inbound flights. It is based on the fact that thousands of mainlanders walk across the border every day to buy non-contaminated baby formula.

      Reply
  3. turnipcake says

    March 15, 2015 at 8:43 pm

    As Sa said concerning Hong Kong, this list measures arrivals of tourists, I assume, at the cities’ international airports (see report). This does not show how long tourists stay in these cities, if at all. Many of the cities are close to interesting historic and scenic areas.

    Reply
  4. helje says

    July 4, 2015 at 1:32 pm

    Hong Kong first ? Is it a joke ? There’s nithing to see there ! Nothing, comparing to Paris, London, NYC or Beijing…

    Reply
    • Warren Lauzon says

      January 20, 2018 at 8:40 pm

      It counts mainland tourists, who can walk across the border. But as far as “nothing to see” – have you ever actually been there?

      Reply
      • helje says

        January 20, 2018 at 9:18 pm

        Yes, I’ve been there several times. Besides shopping and a few sites, what can you see there. Paris, for example, is much much more worth it.

        Reply
        • Warren Lauzon says

          January 21, 2018 at 8:34 pm

          Funny.. I had the same impression of Paris. Once you see the Eiffel tower and a few other sites, there is not much “there” there except for overpriced restaurants and snooty bakeries 😀

          Reply
  5. Manamana says

    July 26, 2015 at 11:12 am

    In Poland Krakow gets much more turists than Warsaw

    Reply
  6. Rental Italy says

    October 12, 2016 at 12:43 pm

    Rome on 12th place, lower than Shenzhen and Macau… Wuite surprising results.

    Reply
  7. emmettbrady says

    December 26, 2016 at 12:47 am

    that list seems like a load of nonsense

    Reply
  8. Raj Kishor Kannoujea says

    January 6, 2017 at 12:58 pm

    Nice job! but need to more.

    Reply
  9. Helmut Kremers says

    March 10, 2017 at 12:58 pm

    Munich had 14.1 million visitors last year – and that wasn’t even the best, so how come it isn’t on the list?!

    Reply
  10. Rahul gupta says

    April 24, 2017 at 7:05 am

    india brautiful country with lots of diversity and more than 22+ official language having wonders of the world filled with colors and more than 2000+ local language and world second largest English speaking nation having desert ,hills,mountain,snow fall ,largest green forest,.i think it is a pack of whole European + africa.
    it has lots of beautiful beaches in then having world almost every religion ,here you get temple,mosque ,churchs,and many more

    Reply
    • SIDDHANT GARG says

      May 5, 2017 at 5:09 pm

      apart from India more places should you visit

      Reply
    • Bhupinder Singh says

      September 12, 2019 at 5:09 pm

      If India is such a wonderful place, why does everyone want to leave?

      Reply
  11. Rental24H says

    January 12, 2018 at 4:55 pm

    woooww!
    very nice photos~!
    good luck

    Reply
  12. Kanika Bakshi says

    January 2, 2019 at 5:02 am

    India is a beautiful country with lots and different culture. you will be able to learn more about its culture, traditions and languages with different food recipes.

    Reply
  13. Jonathan Ridgway says

    April 14, 2019 at 12:18 am

    This is list is sooo inaccurate. Business insider has a more correct list.

    Reply
  14. Kaushal Soni says

    September 29, 2019 at 4:17 pm

    Loved it, Insightful List!

    Reply
  15. Patricia Kavanagh says

    December 22, 2019 at 9:39 am

    Echo sentiments above. HK is a transport hub. Much more complex than first seems. India already has large population so will skew figures for there.

    Reply
  16. Chiku Cab says

    January 28, 2020 at 11:17 am

    Hey, nice post and very informative, Thanks for sharing this information.

    Reply
  17. Jecco says

    April 4, 2020 at 8:42 am

    Here is an interesting fact about the list. Turkish city Edirne has only 200K population and not so much touristic to get in this list on 62th place in the world and 4th in Turkey. Why is it here? Because Edirne covers the western border of Turkey between Bulgaria and Greece and so the EU. It is not just touristic numbers, it is also industrial transportation and transit passages all over to Turkey. This list is not accurate.

    Reply
  18. Aman Kumar says

    September 26, 2020 at 7:06 am

    now its very old

    Reply
  19. Kirti Pathak says

    January 5, 2021 at 3:43 pm

    You have list top 100 list but I think you can add some more to it.

    Reply
  20. Big Cab varanasi says

    September 10, 2022 at 8:50 pm

    Very informative post…
    Thanks for sharing

    Reply

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