The 51 destinations where tourists outnumber locals

The world's most popular country? According to figures for 2016, the latest available from the UNWTO, it's France, with 82.6 million overseas visitors. 

Second is the US, on 77.5m, third is Spain on 75.6m, while the UK comes seventh with 35.8m. 

The world's most visited countries

1. France - 82.6m annual visitors (2016)

2. United States - 77.5m (2015)

3. Spain - 75.6m (2016)

4. China - 59.3m (2016)

5. Italy - 52.4m (2016)

6. Turkey - 39.5m (2015)
   

7. United Kingdom - 35.8m (2016)

8. Germany - 35.6m (2016)

9. Mexico - 35m (2016)

10. Thailand - 32.6m (2016)

Given the sheer size of France, the US, Spain, China, and others in the top 10, it's not suprising they lure so many travellers. But what happens when if take visitor numbers and divide them by a destination's population, to give the number of tourists per resident? As you'll see from the map below, which uses The World Bank's figures for overseas arrivals in 2014, the most recent year for which all nations returned figures, you get a very different set of results.

The tiny principality of Andorra tops the charts (you'll need to zoom in to see it). It welcomed 2.36m tourists in 2014, but just 70,000 people call it home. That works out at 33.5 tourists per resident. 

Macau, the gambling hub, comes second - with 24.8 tourists per resident, followed by a pair of Caribbean gems - the British Virgin Islands (12.8) and the Turks and Caicos Islands (10.4). In total, there are 51 destinations where tourists outnumber locals - and we've gone to the trouble of listing them all below. 

The 51 destinations where tourists outnumber locals

1. Andorra - 33.53057199 annual tourists per resident

2. Macao - 24.78871897

3. British Virgin Islands - 12.81668161

4. Turks and Caicos Islands - 10.42546376

5. Aruba - 10.31870554

6. Monaco - 8.719620471

7. Northern Mariana Islands - 8.353005266

8. Guam - 7.905347735

9. Bahrain - 7.589107757

10. Saint Maarten - 7.142857143

11. Palau - 6.622516556

12. Cayman Islands - 6.386846099

13. US Virgin Islands - 5.812269488

14. Malta - 3.91808649

15. Hong Kong - 3.801141574

16. The Bahamas - 3.67765496

17. Bermuda - 3.433739557

18. Iceland - 3.01671891

19. Maldives - 2.945036575

20. Austria - 2.937027237

21. Curacao - 2.860035434

22. Croatia - 2.751394043

23. Antigua and Barbuda - 2.711886558

24. Seychelles - 2.508073197

25. San Marino - 2.35990057

26. Estonia - 2.224088756

27. Montenegro - 2.169064956

28. Singapore - 2.143449993

29. Cyprus - 2.094739552

30. Greece - 2.035619507

31. St. Kitts and Nevis - 2.033398114

32. Ireland - 1.899065723

33. Barbados - 1.833119293

34. St. Lucia - 1.827036903

35. Luxembourg - 1.822088345

36. Denmark - 1.808843619

37. Georgia - 1.499320468

38. Liechtenstein - 1.438810583

39. Spain - 1.400203011

40. Qatar - 1.264228724

41. Grenada - 1.254388018

42. France - 1.253839619

43. Hungary - 1.233152586

44. Slovenia - 1.16825147

45. Albania - 1.156388675

46. Slovak Republic - 1.149510052

47. Dominica - 1.114474408

48. Switzerland - 1.105107581

49. United Arab Emirates - 1.090973066

50. Bulgaria - 1.018530115

51. Czech Republic - 1.006234446

One country is glaringly absent, however. The Vatican City does not appear on The World Bank's database for 2014, so doesn't appear on our map, but it attracts around five million people each year and has a resident population of just 842. That's almost 6,000 tourists per citizen - putting it way out in front.

The UK, for the record, has a population of 65.14 million - almost exactly double the 32.61 million foreign travellers it welcomed in 2014.

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