• The United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) has issued provisional data about how the top tourism destinations performed in 2011.

• France continues to comfortably hold on to the top spot with 79.5 million international tourist arrivals, well ahead of its nearest rival, the United States, for the 4th consecutive year.

 

INTERNATIONAL TOURIST ARRIVALS (Staying Visits)

2011 Rank	Destination	Arrivals (mn)	2010 Rank	2009 Rank	2008 Rank	2007 Rank
1	France	79.5	1	1	1	1
2	USA	62.3	2	2	2	3
3	China	57.6	3	4	4	4
4	Spain	56.7	4	3	3	2
5	Italy	46.1	5	5	5	5
6	Turkey	29.3	7	7	8	9
7	UK	29.2	6	6	6	6
8	Germany	28.4	8	8	9	7
9	Malaysia	24.7	9	9	n/a	n/a
10	Mexico	23.4	10	10	10	10

 

• The USA however, comfortably takes the top spot on revenue generated at €83.5 billion, ahead of Spain and France at €43bn and €38.7bn respectively.

 

INTERNATIONAL TOURIST RECEIPTS

2011 Rank	Destination	Receipts €bn	2010 Rank	2009 Rank	2008 Rank	2007 Rank
1	USA	83.5	1	1	1	1
2	Spain	43.0	2	2	2	2
3	France	38.7	3	3	3	3
4	China	34.8	5	5	5	5
5	Italy	31.0	4	4	4	4
6	Germany	28.0	6	6	6	7
7	UK	26.0	7	7	7	6
8	Australia	22.6	8	8	8	8
9	Macao	TBC	9	n/a	n/a	n/a
10	Hong Kong	19.5	10	12	n/a	n/a

 

• When it comes to the revenue sources, Germany is the most valuable source market for international tourism, spending an estimated €60.6 billion in 2011.  Our nearest neighbour is the 4th largest source market with a spend of just over €36.3 billion.

EXPENDITURE ON INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL

2011 Rank	Source Market	€bn
1	Germany	60.6
2	USA	56.8
3	China	52.2
4	UK	36.3
5	France	29.9
6	Canada	23.7
7	Russian Federation	23.3
8	Italy	20.7
9	Japan	19.5
10	Australia	19.3