World’s Top Tourism Destinations

COSTA RICA TRAVEL – We often wondered what countries would be most visited in the world. Based on the statistics from the World Tourism Organization 2014 edition, we’ve compiled a list of the top 10 most visited in the world.

The results of the 10 top countries in the world may surprise you:

1. France – 84.7 million visitors
2. United States – 69.8 million visitors
3. Spain – 60.7 million visitors
4. China – 55.7 million visitors
5. Italy – 47.7 million visitors
6. Turkey – 37.8 million visitors
7. Germany – 31.5 million visitors
8. United Kindgon – 31.2 million visitors
9. Russia – 28.4 million visitors
10. Thailand- 26.5 million visitors

Are you surprised by France being the most visited country in the world?

Latin America
For 2013, Costa Rica, with 2.1 million visitors, tops the list of travel to Central America, and places 7th in Latin America.

Central America

1. Costa Rica – 2.1 million visitors
   
2. Panama – 1.324 million visitors
3. Guatemama – 1.129 million visitors
4. El Salvador – 1.150 million visitors
5. Nicaragua – 1.011 million visitors
6. Honduras – 863.000 visitors
7. Belize – 242.000 visitors

South America

1. Argentina – 5.325 million visitors
   
2. Brazil – 5.181 million visitors
   
3. Chile – 2.801 million visitors
   
4. Colombia – 2.385 million visitors
   
5. Uruguay – 2.349 million visitors
   
6. Peru – 2.299 million visitors
   
7. Ecuador – 1.047 million visitors
   
8. Bolivia – 807.000
9. Venezuela – 526.000
10. Paraguay – 465.000
11. Suriname – 204.000
12. Guyana – 152.000
13. Frencg Guiana – n/a

Some interesting things to consider in the coming years:

• International tourist arrivals worldwide are expected to increase by
  3.3% a year from 2010 to 2030 to reach 1.8 billion by 2030, according
  to UNWTO’s long term forecast Tourism Towards 2030.
• Between 2010 and 2030, arrivals in emerging destinations (+4.4% a
  year) are expected to increase at twice the rate of those in advanced
  economies (+2.2% a year).
• The market share of emerging economies increased from 30% in 1980
  to 47% in 2013, and is expected to reach 57% by 2030, equivalent to
  over 1 billion international tourist arrivals.

How are people traveling?

53% by air  in 2013, while the remainder travelled by surface transport (47%) – whether by road (40%), rail (2%) or over water (5%).