An international publication has recently made a top of holiday destinations with the fastest increase in the number of visitors, but one with the places that people bypass.
Ireland has fallen into the disgrace of tourists. Photo archive
According to the statistics of the World Tourism Organization, France is in the first place in the standings, while Tuvalu is in the last place, writes The Thegraph.
A decade ago, the crime rate in El Salvador was 106.3 per 100,000 inhabitants, the highest world. Now, thanks to the draconian policies – although extremely effective – against the crime of President Nayib Bukele, a cryptocurrency lover, it is at a remarkable 1.9 to 100,000 (only slightly higher than the one in the United Kingdom).
Once the streets became safe, tourists went directly to this small country in Central America, which received 3.2 million international visitors in 2024, including over 1.2 million from the US, an 80% increase in the figure of 2019.
Another Latin American country, formerly affected by crime, also experienced a serious growth of tourism. Colombia, who – with his wars against drugs and armed insurgency – was banned 20 years ago, quickly becomes an excellence for Hipster. Nearly 6.6 million international tourists visited the country in 2024 – compared to 4.2 million in 2019, an increase of 58%.
Qatar is defeated
If you can turn a dusty slice of the Middle East desert, where it is too hot half of the year to go out during the day, in a flowering holiday destination, then anything is possible.
Qatar welcomed almost 5.1 million tourists in 2024 – more than Norway, Malta, Mauritius and Jamaica – with a lot of museums, hotels and world -size restaurants, helping people overlook the heat temperatures and the questionable history of human rights.
This represents an increase of 138% compared to 2019 – which makes the holiday destination with the fastest growth in the world.
Of course, it is not the only state in the bay that successfully diversifies its economy, previously dependent on oil. During the same period, Bahrain registered an increase in the number of arrivals by 72%; Saudi Arabia with 69.6%.
Albania arrived in the mainstream
Not long ago, Albania was considered an unusual option for a summer getaway, a choice that probably reduced the cost of the holiday budget.
The Balkan nation, motivated by the thread of Prime Minister Edi Rama for foreign tourists and comparisons with the maldiva made by “influencers“From social networks, it has truly entered the mainstream of the holidays.
Nearly 11.3 million international tourists visited the country in 2024, up 6.1 million in 2019 – an increase of 84.3%.
The official objective is to increase this figure to 20 million by 2030, a figure that would place Albania on a par with Croatia, and new developments in the field of hospitality appear quickly.
However, the opposition to Albanian policy is tense, already being fears about damage to the environment and excessive tourism.
The next battlefield because of the supraturism
In addition to Albania or destinations such as Dubrovnik, Venice and Barcelona, Malta is an area where in the future you could see anti-tourism protests, writes the publication.
Malta which registered an increase of 29.5% of arrivals from abroad in 2019 (and an increase of 19.6% only in the last year).
Juliet Rix, an expert in Malta at Telegraph Travel, said: “ÎIn recent visits, I found Valletta uncomfortable for the first time. The Maltese have always received tourists with open arms and will probably continue to do so at this time, but there is now the risk of supraturism and everything that involves this. ”
An adverse reaction is prepared in Japan
Beyond Europe, it seems logical to expect more problems related to excessive tourism in Japan. Foreign arrivals totaled 36.9 million in 2024, up 47.1% compared to 2023 – an increase in one year than in any other country, except for South Korea, and 15.7% more than in 2019.
In addition, OMT statistics from the beginning of the year show that another important increase is predictable for 2025 (in the first quarter, arrivals increased by 23.1% compared to the previous year; if this was repeated throughout 2025, Japan would record over 44 million tourists annually).
Given the extensive evidence of movements against excessive tourism already present in the country, it seems that things could reach a critical point.
Higher tourist taxes could be taken into account, double prices (tourists paying more for entering attractions and even for restaurant tables) and limits on the number of visitors.
Ireland became too expensive
A country that faces a very different tourist problem is the Emerald Island. After receiving almost 11 million foreign visitors in 2019, his post-Covid recovery was weak.
Only 6.3 million visitors visited the country in 2023, and this figure increased only to 6.6 million in 2024 – however 39.8% less than the pandemic, worse than in any other European country.
Nicola Brady, an author of travel articles established in Ireland, said that “The most important factor is probably the most obvious – the cost. ”
“Ireland has a long time the reputation of being an expensive country, and when tourists get to have little money in their pockets, cheaper destinations have high chances of winning”, This states.
It mentioned the increase of the VAT in 2023, which strongly affected the hotel sector, as well as the vertiginal increase of hotel tariffs, largely due to cost increases, but exacerbated by the state use of a significant proportion of the hotel capacity to accommodate asylum seekers.
Problems for South Pacific and Peru
Ireland is not the only country where the number of arrivals remains far below the levels before Covid. For countries such as Israel (78.9%decrease), Myanmar (75.8%decrease), Lebanon (decrease by 41.6%) and Iran (decrease by 22.6%), conflicts and security concerns are clearly to blame.
The islands of the Pacific suffer, tourists are probably reluctant to engage in distant (and expensive) adventures during periods of economic uncertainty; Micronesis (90%decrease), Guam (decrease by 55.8%), New Caledonia (55%decrease), Northern Marian Islands (53%decrease), Marshall Islands (40.9%decrease), Palau (decrease by 40.4%) and Vanatu (36.4%decrease) are all far from 2019 levels.
“Economic growth” The US seems to be real, the states registering 72.4 million visitors in 2024, decreasing by 8.9% compared to the figure of 2019.
Other countries that are still struggling to recover after pandemic include Philippines (34.2%decrease), Peru (decrease by 25.5%), Hungary (decrease by 22.3%), South Africa (decrease by 12.8%), Australia (decrease by 12.6%), Thailand (decrease by 10.9%), Italy (decrease by 10.5%).
Public Relations Problems of Britain
Although he has not yet published complete statistics for 2024, the UK is another country whose recovery was slow. He received 37.2 million foreign visitors in 2023, down 5.6% compared to 2019, and projections for 2024 and 2025 suggest only a slight improvement.
In addition, tourists’ expenses decreased by 8%, which translates to a decrease of 2.8 billion pounds when adjusted according to inflation.
Various factors were invoked, including high prices for meals in the city and hotel stays (the World Economic Forum ranks 113rd in 119 countries in terms of price competitiveness), increasing visa taxes and eliminating taxes without tourists.
“For those who follow the news, the United Kingdom did not have the best promotional campaigns“Adds Chris Moss, travel writer and expert in the UK.
“The gross wastewater from the sea, the increase of the crime with white weapons, the chaos on the railways and even the abolition of HS2 are not attractive images.” he added.
102 million foreign visitors in France
OMT statistics show that 2024 was a reference year for France. An amazing number of 102 million foreign visitors came to the land of cheese and wine-more tourists than they visited a single country in one year, ever.
It also has three times more annual visitors than Greece (the ninth most visited country in 2024-excluding those who did not provide data) and Japan. However, while excessive tourism has become a topic of political interest in both Greece and Japan, France barely saw any murmur about too many tourists (except for occasional dissatisfaction with Emily inspired influencers).
Saint-Tropez in the French Riviera
Anthony Peregrine, the expert in France at Telegraph Travel, offers some theories: “France simply does not attract so many people who, with bottles in their hand, disturb decent locals at 2:30 in the morning. There are, of course, inappropriate behaviors on the Riviera, but these are mainly of the millionaires, who have a way to let themselves spoiled. ”
“The French families also tend to spend the vacation in France, often in those places on the coast where we could expect the evening adventures to get out of control. Their presence-I know it-I have a calming effect, even a civilizer. And, anyway, the locals in the French holidays are more than the French,” says the expert.
The 200 in Tuvalu
Finally, a few words about the small island of Tuvalu. Of the 195 countries that provided OMT data on the 2022 tourism, it registered the smallest number of annual visitors: only 200 (in 2022; the figures for 2023 and 2024 are not available).
