The 25 Most Visited International Cities in the World [2024]

Ever wonder which city is the most visited in the world?  Unfortunately, depending on how you define a visitor, lists of the world’s best cities vary widely. We have found and compared three authoritative Indices — International Arrivals, Overnight Visitors & Total Reported Visitors.  We doubt this will help you answer the question: “Which major cities in the world have the most annual visitors?” However, it should give you perspective on the most popular cities, given the different definitions of a visitor. As for the most visited countries, unfortunately, this post does not address that question at all. If you are looking for U.S. travel statistical data, please see our post “U.S. International Travel Statistics Trends [2026].”

Introduction

This reference document presents three authoritative global city tourism rankings drawn from distinct methodological frameworks: the Euromonitor International Top 100 City Destinations Index (international arrivals), the Mastercard Global Destination Cities Index (overnight international visitors), and a composite of city-reported total visitor figures cross-referenced with UN Tourism data. These three indices use different visitor definitions, counting units, and data collection mechanisms, so the same city may rank very differently on each list if only counting overseas travelers. Bangkok ranks first by raw international arrivals; Paris ranks second by overnight visitors; Orlando ranks first by total visitor volume despite being absent from both international tourists-only indices entirely.

Readers and editorial teams should note the data year, counting methodology, and geographic scope for each world list before comparing figures across rankings. A city’s ranking is only meaningful in the context of what is being counted. This document is structured so that each ranking section can be independently published as a standalone page section, Divi Section, or structured data block. All approximate figures are flagged with a tilde (~) or the abbreviation est. and should be verified against the primary source before editorial publication.

Also, please note that we are counting only city data.  Large metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles and San Francisco are counted only for travel within city limits and therefore don’t appear on the lists. Rio de Janeiro, despite being an iconic tourist destination, faces a similar issue; in addition, South America, in general, is less visited by international travelers than other continents. Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) is not counted, as Vietnam only reports country data. St. Petersburg, which appeared on the list in previous years, is no longer a top-25 city because of Russia travel bans.

Ranking 1: Euromonitor International — Top 25 Cities by International Arrivals

Publisher: Euromonitor International  |  Index: Top 100 City Destinations Index 2024  |  Data Year: 2024 (full calendar year)  |  Published: December 2024

About This Ranking of Most Visited International Cities

Data year: 2024 (full calendar year).
Publisher: Euromonitor International, Top 100 City Destinations Index 2024 (published December 2024).
Metric: International trips arrivals — any person traveling from another country who stays 24 hours or more in the destination city. Day-trippers are excluded. Domestic visitors are excluded. Each trip is counted separately; a person who visits twice is counted twice. The counts include more than just international tourist arrivals, as they also include business travelers.
Coverage: Top 100 global city destinations scored across 55 metrics in six pillars: Economic & Business Performance, Tourism Performance, Tourism Infrastructure, Tourism Policy & Attractiveness, Health & Safety, and Sustainability.

Top 25 Cities — Euromonitor International Arrivals 2024 List of the Most Visited Cities Including Growth from Last Year

Methodology Notes

Source: Euromonitor International Top 100 City Destinations Index 2024 (paywalled report, USD 1,475). Positions 1–10 confirmed via Euromonitor press release and secondary media coverage (CNN Travel, Travel + Leisure Asia). Positions 11–25 cross-referenced from Wikipedia’s city visitor list, CNN Travel coverage, and prior Euromonitor baseline data adjusted for post-COVID growth trends. Tilde (~) denotes an approximate figure; est. denotes estimated from secondary sources. Full dataset and methodology available at euromonitor.com. Do not cite estimated positions as confirmed without independent verification against the primary paywalled report.

Observations

Asian cities have shown outstanding growth in recent years and surprisingly dominate the top 10, holding 8 of the 10 spots, as well as 8 of the remaining 15 additional spots. Iconic Landmarks (e.g., Eiffel Tower, Louver Museum, Buckingham Palace, Hagia Sophia, and the Empire State Building) and beautiful architecture help keep major cities on the world list.

Ranking 2: Mastercard Global Destination Cities Index — Top 25 Cities by Overnight International Visitors

Publisher: Mastercard Economics Institute  |  Index: Global Destination Cities Index (GDCI) 2023  |  Data Year: 2023 (most recent full publication)

About This Ranking of Most Visited International Cities

Data year: 2023 (most recent published with full Mastercard GDCI methodology).
Publisher: Mastercard Economics Institute; originally the Mastercard Global Destination Cities Index (GDCI), first published in 2009. The index tracks overnight international visitors and cross-border spending using anonymized Mastercard transaction data combined with third-party tourism research.
Metric: Overnight international visitors — foreign visitors who stay at least one night in the destination city. Day-trippers excluded. Domestic visitors excluded. Unlike Euromonitor, which measures total international arrivals, the GDCI specifically filters for overnight stays, producing lower but arguably more economically meaningful figures.
Key difference from Euromonitor: The Mastercard index counts each unique overnight visit but focuses on spending patterns as a secondary metric (visitor spending in USD is also published). A city that attracts high-spending visitors may rank more prominently for economic impact than for raw volume.

Top 25 Cities — Mastercard GDCI Overnight Visitors 2023

Methodology Notes

Source: Mastercard Global Destination Cities Index 2023, published in partnership with Travelness, using Mastercard GDCI methodology. Primary figures (ranks 1–20) confirmed via Travelness and The Thaiger, citing Mastercard GDCI. Positions 21–25 estimated from the 2016 GDCI baseline (the last major full public release) updated for post-COVID recovery trends. The original GDCI was published annually 2009–2019; the methodology has been applied selectively since. Full spending data (USD billions per city) available at mastercard.com/economics.

Ranking 3: UN Tourism / City-Reported — Top 25 Cities by Total Visitor Volumes

Publishers: Individual city tourism boards and DMOs, cross-referenced with UN Tourism World Tourism Barometer  |  Data Years: 2022–2023 (varies by city)

About This Ranking of Most Visited International Cities

Data years: 2022–2023 (most recent available per city; some figures are 2022 full-year, others are 2023 estimates).
Publishers: Individual city tourism boards and destination marketing organizations (DMOs), cross-referenced with UN Tourism (formerly UNWTO) World Tourism Barometer country-level data, and major secondary research compilers.
Metric: Total reported visitors — this ranking is the broadest measure available. It typically includes both international and domestic tourists and, in some cases, counts day-trippers (visitors who do not stay overnight). Because each city’s DMO uses its own counting conventions, treat direct comparisons with caution. U.S. Cities with large domestic catchment populations (e.g., Orlando, Las Vegas, New York City) will rank significantly higher here than on the strictly international-only Euromonitor or Mastercard indices.

Top 25 Cities — Total Reported Visitors 2022–2023

Methodology Notes

This ranking aggregates self-reported figures from individual city tourism boards and DMOs, cross-referenced against UN Tourism (untourism.org) World Tourism Barometer data at the country level. Because each city uses its own counting unit (overnights, arrivals, day-visits, or bed-nights), figures are not strictly comparable across rows. Cities noted as “Intl only” count only foreign visitors and will understate total visitor load. Cities noted as “Domestic + Intl” or “day-trippers” capture significantly broader foot-traffic and will appear inflated relative to international-only metrics. UN Tourism does not publish an official city-level ranking; country-level data is available at the UN Tourism Data Dashboard (data.unwto.org). All figures should be validated against the latest individual city DMO publications before editorial use.

Cross-Index Comparison Snapshot

The following chart shows how each city ranks across the three indices.

How the Same City Ranks Across All Three Indices

The table below shows why a single city can rank dramatically differently across the three ranking systems. The divergence is not an error — it is a direct consequence of each index measuring a fundamentally different visitor segment with different counting rules. Editorial teams building SEO reference pages should explain this divergence clearly to avoid reader confusion.

Key Definitions and Glossary

The following definitions explain why the same city produces different visitor totals depending on which index is consulted. Understanding these distinctions is essential before citing any tourism ranking in editorial content.

What Counts as a “Visitor”?

International Arrival (Euromonitor): A person crossing an international border into a city for 24 hours or more. Excludes same-day visitors and domestic tourists. This is the strictest definition and produces the lowest raw visitor numbers of the three methodologies used in this document.

Overnight International Visitor (Mastercard GDCI): A foreign visitor who stays at least one night in the destination city. Similar to the Euromonitor definition but places additional emphasis on overnight stays and economic spend. Spending data in USD accompanies visitor volume figures in the full GDCI publication.

Total Visitor (City-Reported): Defined differently by each city authority. May include domestic tourists, day-trippers, cruise passengers, and transit visitors depending on how the city’s destination marketing organization (DMO) defines and counts a “visit.” Produces the largest numbers of the three methodologies. Most useful for infrastructure planning, capacity management, and attraction demand forecasting.

UN Tourism (UNWTO) Standard Definition: UN Tourism’s official international standard defines a “tourist” as an overnight visitor and a “visitor” as anyone — including same-day travellers. UN Tourism publishes country-level data, not city-level rankings. Their national inbound tourism data underpins Euromonitor’s methodology and city-level extrapolations by many national statistical agencies.

Day-Tripper / Same-Day Visitor: A visitor who enters a destination and departs within 24 hours without an overnight stay. Excluded from Euromonitor and Mastercard counts. Included in some city-reported totals (notably Macau, Hong Kong, and Amsterdam). Including or excluding day-trippers can double or halve a city’s reported visitor figure.

Bed-Night / Overnight Stay: One person staying one night in commercial or private accommodation. Some European cities (Vienna, Berlin) use bed-nights as their primary tourism metric rather than counting individual arrivals. A single visitor staying 5 nights contributes 5 bed-nights but only 1 arrival.

Data Sources and Further Reading – Top Global Cities

The following primary and secondary sources were used to compile the rankings in this document. Editorial teams should verify all figures against the most current edition of each source before publication, as tourism statistics are revised annually.

1. Euromonitor International Top 100 City Destinations Index 2024 — euromonitor.com (December 2024; paywalled report, USD 1,475). Primary source for Ranking 1. Positions 1–10 confirmed via press release and secondary citations.
2. Mastercard Global Destination Cities Index 2023 — mastercard.com/economics. Primary source for Ranking 2. Full spending data (USD billions per city) available alongside visitor volumes in the published index.
3. UN Tourism World Tourism Barometer 2025 — data.unwto.org. Country-level inbound tourism data; foundational reference for national arrival totals used to validate city-level estimates.
4. Wikipedia: List of Cities by International Visitors — wikipedia.org. Aggregates multiple sources including prior Euromonitor, Mastercard, and city DMO datasets. Useful for baseline comparisons and multi-year trend identification.
5. Visit Orlando Annual Report 2022 — visitorlando.com. Primary source for Orlando’s 74.0M total visitor figure.
6. NYC Tourism + Conventions 2023 Annual Report — nycgo.com. Primary source for New York City’s 66.6M total visitor figure.
7. Las Vegas Visitor Statistics 2023 — Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (lvcva.com). Primary source for Las Vegas’s 40.8M total visitor figure.
8. Singapore Tourism Board Annual Report 2023 — stb.gov.sg. Primary source for Singapore’s 13.6M international visitor figure.
9. Dubai Tourism DTCM Report 2023 — visitdubai.com. Primary source for Dubai’s 17.15M international visitor figure.
10. Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) Statistics 2024 — jnto.go.jp. Primary source for Tokyo’s international overnight visitor data; JNTO does not separately publish domestic visitor tallies at city level.