EU countries by international tourist arrivals, 2021

France had the highest international tourist arrivals of 14 EU countries in 2021, at 48.4 million. Latvia had the lowest, at 477,648. The median was 7.26 million. Source: the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

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Highest48,395,210France
Lowest477,648Latvia
Median7,264,43914 EU countries

Map of EU countries, 2021

Czechia: 3,767,826 countDenmark: 7,556,005 countEstonia: 808,203 countSpain: 31,180,802 countFrance: 48,395,210 countHungary: 6,972,873 countItaly: 26,888,009 countLithuania: 947,600 countLatvia: 477,648 countMalta: 968,136 countPoland: 9,722,000 countPortugal: 9,616,700 countSweden: 10,259,767 countSlovakia: 1,725,216 count
  • Under 1M
  • 1M to 4.4M
  • 4.4M to 9.2M
  • 9.2M to 17M
  • 17M and over
  • No data
count, 2021. Hatched areas have no value for this period. Source: OECD, OECD Inbound tourism: arrivals of non-resident overnight visitors (tourists), tourism demand surveys and frontier statistics (DSD_TOURISM_INTER@DF_INBOUND). Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain).

All EU countries, 2021

France: 48,395,210 countFrance48,395,210Spain: 31,180,802 countSpain31,180,802Italy: 26,888,009 countItaly26,888,009Sweden: 10,259,767 countSweden10,259,767Poland: 9,722,000 countPoland9,722,000Portugal: 9,616,700 countPortugal9,616,700Denmark: 7,556,005 countDenmark7,556,005Hungary: 6,972,873 countHungary6,972,873Czechia: 3,767,826 countCzechia3,767,826Slovakia: 1,725,216 countSlovakia1,725,216Malta: 968,136 countMalta968,136Lithuania: 947,600 countLithuania947,600Estonia: 808,203 countEstonia808,203Latvia: 477,648 countLatvia477,648France: 48,395,210 countFrance48,395,210Spain: 31,180,802 countSpain31,180,802Italy: 26,888,009 countItaly26,888,009Sweden: 10,259,767 countSweden10,259,767Poland: 9,722,000 countPoland9,722,000Portugal: 9,616,700 countPortugal9,616,700Denmark: 7,556,005 countDenmark7,556,005Hungary: 6,972,873 countHungary6,972,873Czechia: 3,767,826 countCzechia3,767,826Slovakia: 1,725,216 countSlovakia1,725,216Malta: 968,136 countMalta968,136Lithuania: 947,600 countLithuania947,600Estonia: 808,203 countEstonia808,203Latvia: 477,648 countLatvia477,648
count. Source: OECD, OECD Inbound tourism: arrivals of non-resident overnight visitors (tourists), tourism demand surveys and frontier statistics (DSD_TOURISM_INTER@DF_INBOUND). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankEU countries2021
count
Change on 2020
1France48,395,210+16.1%
2Spain31,180,802+64.7%
3Italy26,888,009+6.7%
4Sweden10,259,767n/a
5Poland9,722,000+15.5%
6Portugal9,616,700+48.4%
7Denmark7,556,005+20.7%
8Hungary6,972,873+5.3%
9Czechia Provisional3,767,826-3.9%
10Slovakia1,725,216-21%
11Malta968,136+47%
12Lithuania947,600+1.2%
13Estonia808,203-21%
14Latvia477,648-24.9%

Other periods

About this ranking

Non-resident visitors who stay at least one night (tourists) arriving in the country. Spain and its regions: INE FRONTUR, by main destination region. Other countries, yearly: OECD inbound tourism table, from frontier statistics or visitor surveys.

Same-day visitors are not included; overnight and same-day visitors together are international_visitor_arrivals. The OECD series for Spain repeats FRONTUR. Countries count arrivals in different ways, so gaps between countries partly reflect method.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the EU countries are compared on one definition. 2 EU countries with data in other periods have no value for 2021 and are left out rather than filled from another source. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

OECD. OECD Inbound tourism: arrivals of non-resident overnight visitors (tourists), tourism demand surveys and frontier statistics (DSD_TOURISM_INTER@DF_INBOUND). https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_TOURISM_INTER%40DF_INBOUND&df[ag]=OECD.CFE.TOU. Accessed 2026-10-12. Data reuse terms and downstream attribution: https://www.oecd.org/en/about/terms-conditions.html

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2026). OECD Inbound tourism: arrivals of non-resident overnight visitors (tourists), tourism demand surveys and frontier statistics (DSD_TOURISM_INTER@DF_INBOUND) (EU countries by international tourist arrivals, 2021) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_TOURISM_INTER%40DF_INBOUND&df[ag]=OECD.CFE.TOU

MLA 9

OECD Inbound tourism: arrivals of non-resident overnight visitors (tourists), tourism demand surveys and frontier statistics (DSD_TOURISM_INTER@DF_INBOUND), EU countries by international tourist arrivals, 2021. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 12 Oct. 2026, https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_TOURISM_INTER%40DF_INBOUND&df[ag]=OECD.CFE.TOU. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/international-tourists/eu-countries. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. 2026. OECD Inbound tourism: arrivals of non-resident overnight visitors (tourists), tourism demand surveys and frontier statistics (DSD_TOURISM_INTER@DF_INBOUND). EU countries by international tourist arrivals, 2021. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_TOURISM_INTER%40DF_INBOUND&df[ag]=OECD.CFE.TOU. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/international-tourists/eu-countries.

Harvard

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2026) OECD Inbound tourism: arrivals of non-resident overnight visitors (tourists), tourism demand surveys and frontier statistics (DSD_TOURISM_INTER@DF_INBOUND), EU countries by international tourist arrivals, 2021 [Dataset]. Available at: https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_TOURISM_INTER%40DF_INBOUND&df[ag]=OECD.CFE.TOU, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/international-tourists/eu-countries (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{organisation_eu_countries_by_international_2021,
  author = {{Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development}},
  title = {{OECD Inbound tourism: arrivals of non-resident overnight visitors (tourists), tourism demand surveys and frontier statistics (DSD\_TOURISM\_INTER@DF\_INBOUND): EU countries by international tourist arrivals, 2021}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_TOURISM_INTER%40DF_INBOUND&df[ag]=OECD.CFE.TOU},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/international-tourists/eu-countries. Publisher attribution: OECD. OECD Inbound tourism: arrivals of non-resident overnight visitors (tourists), tourism demand surveys and frontier statistics (DSD\_TOURISM\_INTER@DF\_INBOUND). https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ\&df[id]=DSD\_TOURISM\_INTER\%40DF\_INBOUND\&df[ag]=OECD.CFE.TOU. Accessed 2026-10-12. Data reuse terms and downstream attribution: https://www.oecd.org/en/about/terms-conditions.html.},
}
RIS
TY  - DATA
AU  - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
TI  - OECD Inbound tourism: arrivals of non-resident overnight visitors (tourists), tourism demand surveys and frontier statistics (DSD_TOURISM_INTER@DF_INBOUND): EU countries by international tourist arrivals, 2021
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/12
PB  - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_TOURISM_INTER%40DF_INBOUND&df[ag]=OECD.CFE.TOU
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/international-tourists/eu-countries
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/international-tourists/eu-countries.
N1  - Publisher attribution: OECD. OECD Inbound tourism: arrivals of non-resident overnight visitors (tourists), tourism demand surveys and frontier statistics (DSD_TOURISM_INTER@DF_INBOUND). https://data-explorer.oecd.org/vis?df[ds]=dsDisseminateFinalDMZ&df[id]=DSD_TOURISM_INTER%40DF_INBOUND&df[ag]=OECD.CFE.TOU. Accessed 2026-10-12. Data reuse terms and downstream attribution: https://www.oecd.org/en/about/terms-conditions.html.
ER  - 
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Questions

Which EU country has the highest international tourist arrivals?

France, with 48.4 million in 2021, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Which EU country has the lowest international tourist arrivals?

Latvia, with 477,648 in 2021.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD Inbound tourism: arrivals of non-resident overnight visitors (tourists), tourism demand surveys and frontier statistics (DSD_TOURISM_INTER@DF_INBOUND). Retrieved 2026-10-12. 2 EU countries have no value for 2021 and are not ranked.

International tourist arrivals: other rankings

EU countries: more rankings