The World Tourism Organization released tourist data for the year 2023

Recep Yavuz, the Chairman of the Tourism Working Group of the Antalya City Council, compiling the 2023 tourism data of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), announced that the number of people traveling to another country reached 1.3 billion in 2023.

Yavuz noted that France set a world record with 100 million tourists, marking the first time in world tourism history that a country reached the milestone of 100 million tourists in a year. He stated that in 2023, with 1.3 billion tourists traveling, Spain ranked second with 85 million, and the United States (US) ranked third with 66 million tourists.

Yavuz pointed out that Turkey ranked fifth in the list, falling behind Italy, which it surpassed in 2021 and 2022, with 57 million tourists. He commented, "Turkey, with 55 million tourists after the pandemic, fell behind Italy, ranking fifth."

He highlighted that since 2010, France has maintained its position as the leader according to statistics from the World Tourism Organization. Yavuz mentioned popular destinations in France such as Disneyland Paris, the Louvre Museum, the Eiffel Tower, Versailles Palace, and Pompidou Square, which are visited by many Belgian, British, and German tourists. He emphasized that France, with its historical and cultural values, world-renowned cuisine, and beaches, has been hosting around 70-80 million tourists as both a city and coastal destination for years. In 2023, by reaching 100 million tourists, France broke a new visitor record for both itself and global tourism.

Yavuz also noted that Spain surpassed its own record for the first time since 2015, reaching over 85 million tourists in 2023. He highlighted that Spain received 85,170,000 tourists last year, with tourism revenue reaching $92 billion. He mentioned that Spain's per capita tourism revenue was $1,080. The US maintained its third position in world tourism. With approximately 66,480,000 tourists, the US earned approximately $176 billion, with a per capita tourism revenue of $2,645. Yavuz stated that France, Spain, and the US accounted for about 20% of all global arrivals, with approximately 250 million tourists.

Regarding Turkey, Yavuz stated that despite significant growth compared to 2022, it fell one step to fifth place due to extraordinary increases in competitor countries. He added that Turkey achieved $49.5 billion in tourism revenue with 55,160,000 tourists in 2023, and per capita tourism revenue rose to $897. Turkey ranked sixth in total tourism revenue with an increase of about 10%.

Yavuz provided a list of other countries in the top 20 according to UNWTO's 2023 tourism data:

Mexico: 42.15 million tourists ($30.8 billion)United Kingdom: 37.22 million tourists ($73.9 billion)Germany: 34.80 million tourists ($37.4 billion)Greece: 32.74 million tourists ($22.3 billion)Austria: 30.91 million tourists ($25 billion)Thailand: 28.15 million tourists ($29.7 billion)Saudi Arabia: 27.12 million tourists ($36 billion)Japan: 25.07 million tourists ($38.6 billion)Netherlands: 20.3 million tourists ($20.2 billion)Malaysia: 20.14 million tourists ($14.8 billion)Poland: 18.99 million tourists ($15 billion)Canada: 18.34 million tourists ($39.2 billion)Hong Kong: 17.16 million tourists ($21.1 billion)Morocco: 14.52 million tourists ($10.3 billion)China: 14.23 million tourists ($32.6 billion).