Asian destinations on the rise in world tourism ranking

Madrid, 19 May 2005 - The latest data on international tourist arrivals to the various destinations in the world collected by the World Tourism Organization showed significant changes in the table of the world's top tourism destinations in 2004. As a result of the strong rebound experienced last year, Asian destinations significantly strengthened their position in the ranking. Although the order of the three main world tourism destinations remained unchanged with France as unchallenged leader, major developments in 2004 included China taking over Italy's traditional position as the world's fourth most visited destination, and the entry of Hong Kong (China) among the top ten tourism destinations.

France maintains its leading position as the world's most visited destination with 75.1 million tourist arrivals in 2004, or almost the same level of 2003 (+ 0.1%). Spain, where tourist arrivals grew by 3.4 per cent, ranks second with 53.6 million arrivals. It is followed by the USA, with 46.1 million arrivals, showing a significant recovery from the poor results of the past three years (+12% as compared to 2003).