The World Tourism rankings are compiled by the United Nations World Tourism Organization as part of their World Tourism Barometer publication, which is released three times throughout the year. In the publication, UN regions and subregions are ranked by the number of international visitor arrivals, by the revenue generated by inbound tourism, and by the expenditures of outbound travelers.
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Most visited destinations by international tourist arrivals
In 2015, there were 1.186 billion international tourist arrivals worldwide, with a growth of 5% as compared to 1.133 billion in 2014. The top 10 international tourism destinations in 2015 were:
Africa
In 2015, there were over 53 million international tourist arrivals to Africa, a decrease of 3% from 2014. In 2015, the top ten African destinations were:
Middle East
In 2015, there were over 53 million international tourist arrivals to the Middle East, an increase of 2.0% over 2014. In 2015, the top ten destinations were:
The Americas
In 2015, there were over 193 million international tourist arrivals to the Americas, an increase of 6.0% over 2014. In 2015, the top ten destinations were:
Asia and the Pacific
In 2015, there were over 279 million international tourist arrivals to Asia and the Pacific, an increase of 6.0% over 2014. In 2015, the top ten destinations were:
Europe
In 2015, there were over 608 million international tourist arrivals to Europe, an increase of 5.0% over 2014. In 2015, the top ten destinations were:
International tourism receipts
International tourism receipts grew to US$1,260 billion in 2015, corresponding to an increase in real terms of 4.4% from 2014. The World Tourism Organization reports the following destinations as the top twelve tourism earners for the year 2015, with the United States by far the top earner.
International tourism expenditure in 2015
The World Tourism Organization reports the following destinations as the top ten biggest spenders on international tourism for the year 2015.
Top International Tourist Destination Cities
Apart from the UN, worldatlas.com has conducted a research in world tourism ranking by cities in 2015. The top ten world's most visited cities by international tourists are London, Bangkok, Paris, Dubai, Istanbul, New York City, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Seoul, and Hong Kong.