In 2024, London was the leading European city tourism destination based on the number of bed nights. That year, bed nights in the United Kingdom's capital reached almost ** million, nearly catching up with pre-pandemic levels. Paris and Istanbul followed in the ranking in 2024, with roughly ** million and **** million bed nights. What are the most visited countries in Europe? While the French capital came in second among leading European cities based on bed nights, France consistently tops the ranking of the European countries with the highest number of inbound tourist arrivals, ahead of Spain, Italy, and Turkey. Meanwhile, when looking at European countries with the highest tourism receipts, Spain recorded the highest figure both before and after the impact of COVID-19. How many international tourists visit Europe every year? In 2024, the number of international tourist arrivals in Europe totaled over *** million. This figure, which also exceeded pre-pandemic levels, made Europe the region with the highest number of international tourist arrivals worldwide that year.

The number of international tourist arrivals to the selected European destinations increased in 2024 over the previous year, in most cases surpassing pre-pandemic levels. In 2024, Paris and the Île-de-France region recorded the highest figure among the selected destinations, with **** million inbound tourist arrivals. London and Istanbul followed in the ranking that year, with roughly ** million and **** million arrivals, respectively. What are the most visited countries by international tourists? Both before and after the COVID-19 pandemic, France was the country with the highest number of inbound tourist arrivals worldwide. Meanwhile, the United States consistently ranks as the country with the highest international tourism receipts worldwide. How many tourists travel every year? In 2024, the number of international tourist arrivals worldwide exceeded *** billion, catching up with pre-pandemic levels. Breaking down the number of inbound tourist arrivals worldwide by region shows that Europe is the global leading destination for inbound tourism, with over *** million international tourist arrivals in 2024.

Florence, the famous Italian city, was the best-rated European city by readers of a U.S. travel magazine in 2025, scoring 90.08 out of 100 points. Seville in Spain, ranked second with 89.49 points.

In 2024, London played a prominent role in supporting international tourism in the United Kingdom. That year, the UK's capital accounted for roughly ** percent of all inbound tourist arrivals in the country. Meanwhile, Paris and the Île-de-France region represented around ** percent of all international arrivals to France, whereas travelers to Barcelona made up almost ** percent of inbound tourist arrivals in Spain in 2024. What are the most visited European cities? When looking at the number of inbound tourist arrivals to leading travel destinations in Europe, Paris and Île-de-France, the region surrounding the French capital, recorded the highest figure in 2024, with nearly ** million arrivals. London and Istanbul, also among the leading city tourism destinations in Europe based on the number of bed nights, followed in the ranking that year, with around ** million and over ** million inbound tourist arrivals, respectively. What are the most visited European countries? Both before and after the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, France, Spain, and Italy were the most visited European countries by international travelers. Meanwhile, Spain consistently ranks as the European country with the highest number of inbound tourism receipts.

This statistic shows the number of international overnight visitors in the most popular European city destinations in 2016. London had the largest number of international overnight visitors in 2016 with 19.06 million.

In 2016, London had the second most international overnight visitors. In that same year, London ranked as the third leading city in terms of international visitor spending in the world. In 2016, some 858 thousand international overnight visitors to London came from New York, United States.

Poles were the most likely to buy airline tickets to European cities on the FRU platform in the summer of 2024. Among them, European capitals were mainly popular.

According to a 2025 study, ***** and ***************** were the travel destinations that reported the highest change in the share of flight bookings from Europe between June and September 2025 over the previous year. *****, ********, and ******* followed in the ranking.

Younger audiences dominate TikTok, a social video app that is also used extensively by influencers and travel bloggers. In April 2023, ********* was the city in Europe with the most TikTok views, amassing over *** billion views of videos tagged with the city's name. ****** was also extremely popular with TikTok users, totaling over **** billion views in April 2023, making the UK capital one of the most danceable cities in Europe. Other popular European cities tagged on the app were Paris, Istanbul, and Madrid.

The number of international tourist arrivals in Europe grew in 2024 over the previous year across all the most visited destinations in the region. In 2024, France was the most visited country by inbound travelers in Europe. That year, France, which also topped the ranking of the countries with the highest number of international tourist arrivals worldwide, reported *** million international tourist arrivals, the highest figure recorded by the destination to date. Spain, Turkey, and Italy followed on the list in 2024. Europe is the most popular region for inbound tourism Europe is the region with the highest number of inbound tourism arrivals worldwide, with over *** million arrivals in 2024. Comparatively, there were almost *** million international tourist arrivals in Asia and the Pacific, the second-most visited global region by inbound travelers that year. When breaking down the number of inbound arrivals in Europe by sub-region, Southern and Mediterranean countries reported the highest figures, both before and after the impact of COVID-19. Travel & Tourism Development Index France and Spain, among the most popular travel destinations in Europe in terms of inbound arrivals, were also among the leading countries in the Travel & Tourism Development Index (TTDI). The TTDI index measures factors and policies that support a sustainable and resilient development of travel and tourism worldwide. In 2023, Spain ranked first with a TTDI score of ****, followed by France and Germany.

In 2024, Dubrovnik in Croatia recorded the highest number of tourist arrivals per inhabitant among the selected European cities. The destination had almost ** tourist arrivals per inhabitant in 2024. That year, Lloret de Mar in Spain and Venice in Italy followed on the list, with around ** and ** tourist arrivals per inhabitant, respectively.

Madrid was the most visited city destination in Spain in 2024, having welcomed nearly **** million overnight visitors. The Catalonian capital followed second in the ranking that year, with roughly *****million tourists spending at least one night in the destination. How did Madrid rank in tourist visits and accommodation? In 2022, Madrid attracted over 4.5 million domestic and 4.6 million international tourists for stays exceeding one day, despite experiencing a more than 10 percent decrease compared to 2019 pre-pandemic levels. Furthermore, the Spanish capital has consistently ranked among the top ten European cities with the highest number of nights spent by tourists in paid accommodation, securing the 8th position that year. Which regions attracted the most international tourists? Spain's international tourism rebounded strongly from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, surpassing 100 million visitors in 2022. Catalonia led as the most visited region, attracting over **** million international tourists. The United Kingdom played a pivotal role as the primary source of international tourists, contributing over ** million travelers, followed by France with around ** million visitors.

In 2015, Dubai was the city with the highest number of tourists staying at least one night per capita. That same year, international overnight visitor spending in Dubai reached 28.5 billion US dollars. The city, which is the largest and most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, was also one of the most expensive holiday destinations in the world in 2018. In 2016, 14.87 million people visited Dubai from abroad.

Europe and Asia: top destinations

According to the source, most of the 20 tourist cities with the highest number of visitor arrivals per capita were Asian or European cities. After Dubai, Amsterdam and Prague were the second and third cities with the greatest number of tourists spending at least one night per capita. With respectively, 2.7 and 2.5 visitors per capita, the two European cities were followed by another one: London. Singapore, ranked fifth with 2.1 visitors per capita, was the first Asian city in the list. Thus, New-York the first North American city of this ranking was 17th. It appears that Europe remains one of the most popular tourist destinations. Asia was also a very attractive destinations for international visitors with Hong-Kong being the leading city destination in 2017.

Focus on tourism in Europe

Since the nineties, the number of international tourist arrivals in Europe keeps increasing. France is the European country with the largest number of international visitors’ arrivals, while Spain and Italy are also two of the leading tourist destinations on the continent. Travel and tourism have an important contribution to GDP in Europe, reaching 781.6 billion US dollar and 2018 and expected to attain 991.4 billion in 2028.

The Louvre in Paris was the most visited museum in Europe in 2024. That year, the renowned institution, which ranked highly in the list of the most visited museums worldwide, recorded around *** million visits. While attendance increased significantly over the previous year, it did not fully recover yet from the impact of COVID-19. Meanwhile, the Vatican Museums in the Vatican City and the British Museum in London followed in the ranking in 2024, with around *** million and *** million visits, respectively. London – the museum capital of Europe? Of the ** most popular museums in Europe in 2024, *** were located in London. That year, the British Museum and the Natural History Museum ranked as the most visited tourist attractions in the United Kingdom, ahead of the Crown Estate's Windsor Great Park, which was England's most visited paid attraction in 2024. What are the most popular city tourism destinations in Europe? London and Paris ranked as the leading city tourism destinations in Europe based on the number of bed nights in 2024, ahead of Istanbul, Rome, and Berlin. That year, the two cities also reported the highest number of inbound tourist arrivals among leading European destinations, each with over ** million arrivals.

TikTok is a social video app that is very popular with younger audiences and widely used by influencers and travel bloggers. In **********, TikTok videos tagged in Barcelona amassed ****** TikTok views per inhabitant of the city. Additionally, there were ** thousand videos per inhabitant tagged in Paris. Other popular cities included Manchester, Lyon, and Stuttgart.

As of 2024, Paris was rated the best prepared city in Europe for a smart city future, with an index score of ****. London and Amsterdam followed, with **** and ****, respectively. While Paris and London ranked best in their connectivity and infrastructure preparedness, Amsterdam scored best in the city's technology job market.

As of 2024, Paris was rated the European city with the best smart city infrastructure, having an index score of ****. London and Madrid followed, with **** and ****, respectively. While Paris and London are both in the top three of the best prepared European cities for a smart city future with Madrid ranked fifth, with a general index score of ****.

In 2024, Lloret de Mar in Spain reported the highest number of tourist overnight stays per inhabitant among the selected cities in Europe. The destination, a coastal town located south of Girona and northeast of Barcelona, recorded around *** overnight stays per inhabitant in 2024. Dubrovnik in Croatia and Venice in Italy followed in the ranking that year, with roughly *** and ** overnight stays per inhabitant, respectively.

According to the European Backpacker Price Index for 2025, Eastern and Central European destinations dominated the ranking of the most affordable cities for backpacking in Europe. In January 2025, the source included Kyiv as the cheapest destination on the list. It then specified that the Ukrainian capital was never a popular destination for backpacking – and it is unlikely that it will welcome many tourists any time soon – but it reported the lowest average daily cost among the analyzed cities. Meanwhile, the average daily cost in Sofia, based on a cheap hostel, budget meals, the price of public transport, and a limited budget for entertainment, amounted to roughly 39 U.S. dollars.

In 2025, Moscow was the largest city in Europe with an estimated urban agglomeration of 12.74 million people. The French capital, Paris, was the second largest city in 2025 at 11.35 million, followed by the capitals of the United Kingdom and Spain, with London at 9.84 million and Madrid at 6.81 million people. Istanbul, which would otherwise be the largest city in Europe in 2025, is excluded as it is only partially in Europe, with a sizeable part of its population living in Asia. Europe’s population is almost 750 million Since 1950, the population of Europe has increased by approximately 200 million people, increasing from 550 million to 750 million in these seventy years. Before the turn of the millennium, Europe was the second-most populated continent, before it was overtaken by Africa, which saw its population increase from 228 million in 1950 to 817 million by 2000. Asia has consistently had the largest population of the world’s continents and was estimated to have a population of 4.6 billion. Europe’s largest countries Including its territory in Asia, Russia is by far the largest country in the world, with a territory of around 17 million square kilometers, almost double that of the next largest country, Canada. Within Europe, Russia also has the continent's largest population at 145 million, followed by Germany at 83 million and the United Kingdom at almost 68 million. By contrast, Europe is also home to various micro-states such as San Marino, which has a population of just 30 thousand.

Vienna was the most popular city for regional meetings held by associations in Europe in 2022, hosting *** events. In that same year, the leading Latin American city for MICE tourism was Buenos Aires.