The most visited countries in the world· international arrivals, 2019
By international arrivals, the most visited country was France, with about 218 million arrivals in 2019, followed by United States (165.5 million) and China (162.5 million). That 2019 matters: it is the most recent full year the World Bank series reports. Travel has since recovered, but the series ends here — so read this as the last clean pre-pandemic picture, not a live count. Across 179 countries the world logged 2.4 billion arrivals.
Two things the number is not. Arrivals count trips, not people: one traveller crossing a border three times is three arrivals, so land-border and transit-heavy countries look larger. And the World Bank uses a broad "visitor" definition, wider than overnight-only tourists, which is why France’s 217.9 million sits above the tourist figures you may have seen elsewhere. The per-resident view below tells a very different story from these totals.
Where the world travels
The deep color marks the countries that drew the most international arrivals in 2019. Western Europe glows brightest — France, Spain and Italy sit close together — with the United States and China not far behind. Switch to arrivals per resident with the toggle above to see the small states take over.
Tap a country to read its figure.
Natural Earth 10m · Crimea shown as Ukraine · source: World Bank, CC BY 4.0
Every country, ranked from the most visited down
The complete table, most visited first, for 2019 — the last full pre-pandemic year the World Bank reports. Click a column to sort. Arrivals sit first; arrivals per resident and share of the world total sit beside them, because a big total and a busy small country are two different kinds of "visited".
| # ▲ | Country | Arrivals | Per resident | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  France | 217.9M | 3.2× | 9.07% |
| 2 |  United States | 165.5M | 0.48× | 6.89% |
| 3 |  China | 162.5M | 0.12× | 6.76% |
| 4 |  Spain | 126.2M | 2.6× | 5.25% |
| 5 |  Mexico | 97.4M | 0.74× | 4.05% |
| 6 |  Italy | 95.4M | 1.6× | 3.97% |
| 7 |  Poland | 88.5M | 2.4× | 3.68% |
| 8 |  Hungary | 61.4M | 6.5× | 2.55% |
| 9 |  Croatia | 60.0M | 15× | 2.50% |
| 10 |  Hong Kong | 55.9M | 7.5× | 2.33% |
| 11 |  Türkiye | 51.7M | 0.60× | 2.15% |
| 12 |  United Kingdom | 40.9M | 0.59× | 1.70% |
| 13 |  Thailand | 39.9M | 0.56× | 1.66% |
| 14 |  Germany | 39.6M | 0.47× | 1.65% |
| 15 |  Macao | 39.4M | 57× | 1.64% |
What "most visited" really measures here
This ranking uses international tourist arrivals: the number of visitors who crossed a country's border in the year, as reported to the World Bank. It is the standard one-number answer to "which country gets the most visitors," and it is a real measure of scale. But two words in that sentence do a lot of work. "Arrivals" counts trips, not people: the same traveller crossing a border several times counts several times, which flatters countries with busy land borders and heavy transit. And "visitor" is the World Bank's broad definition, wider than overnight tourists, so these figures run higher than some tourist-only counts you will find elsewhere.
The year matters most of all. Every figure here is for 2019, because that is the last complete year the World Bank series reports. The series ends at 2020, the year borders slammed shut for COVID, when arrivals collapsed and any ranking would be meaningless. International travel has since rebounded past its old peak, but the World Bank has not published a comparable full year after 2019 in this series — so this is honestly the most recent clean snapshot, not a live scoreboard. France led with 217.9 million arrivals; the world total was 2.4 billion.
Read the totals alongside the per-resident view. On raw numbers, large Western European countries and the United States dominate. But measured against how many people actually live there, the busiest places on Earth are micro-states — Andorra records dozens of arrivals for every resident, Macao and San Marino not far behind. Both readings are true; they just answer different questions. This page shows the raw arrivals ranking, dated and sourced, with the per-resident axis one toggle away.
Big totals are not the same as busy
France leads on raw arrivals, but on a per-resident basis it barely registers next to Andorra or Macao. The scatter puts total arrivals against arrivals per resident, so both kinds of leader are visible at once.
How to read: each dot is a country. Far right = a large total number of arrivals. High up = many arrivals for each resident. France sits at the far right, the biggest total. Andorra and Macao sit near the top: small populations, tens of arrivals per resident. The United States is huge on total arrivals but low per head.
Five numbers worth remembering
The same dataset, squeezed into the facts people actually retell.
Where does a country stand?
A number lands harder when it belongs to a place you know.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most visited country in the world?
By international arrivals, France is the most visited country, with about 217.9 million arrivals in 2019 — the most recent full year the World Bank series reports. United States (165.5 million) and China (162.5 million) come next. The ranking covers the 179 countries the World Bank publishes arrivals for.
Why is France the most visited country?
France combines an unusually dense set of draws — Paris, the Riviera, wine regions, ski resorts — with a central position in Europe that makes it a natural stop on longer trips. Because arrivals count border crossings, its many land borders and heavy through-traffic push the total up too. The result is about 217.9 million arrivals in 2019, roughly 9.1% of the world's total.
Is this ranking current, or why is it for 2019?
It is for 2019, and that is deliberate. 2019 is the last complete year in the World Bank's arrivals series: the series ends at 2020, when COVID border closures collapsed travel and made any ranking meaningless. International travel has since recovered past its pre-pandemic peak, but the World Bank has not published a comparable full year after 2019 in this indicator. So this is the most recent clean, comparable snapshot rather than a live figure for today.
Are "arrivals" the same as tourists or visitors?
Not exactly. Arrivals count trips across a border, not unique people — one traveller who enters three times is three arrivals. And the World Bank uses a broad "visitor" definition that is wider than overnight tourists only. That is why France's 217.9 million sits above some tourist-only counts. It is a genuine measure of how many border crossings a country handles, which is not quite the same as how many distinct people visit.
Which country has the most tourists per person?
Measured against population, the busiest country is Andorra, with about 99× arrivals for every resident in 2019, followed by Macao at 57×. Micro-states dominate this view: a small resident population and a location built around cross-border visitors produces enormous ratios that the raw-arrivals ranking hides entirely.
How many international arrivals were there worldwide?
The world logged about 2.4 billion international arrivals in 2019, across the 179 countries in this dataset. The five most visited countries alone accounted for roughly 32% of them — travel is highly concentrated in a handful of destinations.
Sources & further reading
Every figure here is built on one open dataset: the World Bank's international tourism arrivals (ST.INT.ARVL), released under CC BY 4.0, for 2019.