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Countries with the Most Tourists Per Capita

Name the countries that have the most international visitors in relation to the size of their population.
For 2023, according to the UN World Tourism Organization
Ratio = Visitors / Residents
Hint: Think countries with small populations
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: September 27, 2024
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First submittedJuly 14, 2015
Times taken77,540
Average score66.7%
Rating4.25
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Ratio
Continent
Country
> 5,000
Europe
Vatican City
50.6
Europe
Andorra
9.51
Europe
Luxembourg
9.31
Europe
Monaco
8.13
Europe
Iceland
5.61
Europe
Malta
4.53
North America
Bahamas
4.04
Europe
Croatia
3.90
Europe
Montenegro
3.65
Asia
Singapore
3.58
Asia
Bahrain
Ratio
Continent
Country
3.58
Asia
Maldives
3.43
Europe
Albania
3.38
Europe
Austria
3.26
Europe
San Marino
3.16
Europe
Greece
3.03
North America
Antigua and Barbuda
2.91
Europe
Liechtenstein
2.87
Asia
Cyprus
2.79
North America
Grenada
2.76
Africa
Seychelles
86 Comments
+24
Level ∞
Jul 14, 2015
Fun fact. The country with the lowest ratio is Bangladesh with less than 1 visitor for every 1,000 residents. Although some countries, like North Korea, don't keep stats.
+10
Level 76
Jul 21, 2015
Interesting - I have visited there, and outside the cities its a beautiful landscape. Also pleasantly free of billboards!
+6
Level 67
Oct 15, 2015
A great spot to establish a textile business or exploit the emerging tech market but hardly a choice destination for beauty. Sure, the beauty is there, but I'd pass on the Bang for a more civil country with equivalent draw.
+3
Level 63
Oct 15, 2015
The Sundarbans are gorgeous. Dhaka...well, not so much, mostly.
+4
Level 20
Oct 19, 2015
Much like Vermont. We don't allow billboards here either.
+57
Level 68
Nov 24, 2017
Vermont and Bangladesh: I can barely tell which is which.
+3
Level 67
Nov 24, 2017
I've been to one of this, but I don't remember which?
+2
Level 66
Jan 20, 2018
Too many snakes. That's a solid 'no go'.
+4
Level 71
Jul 30, 2021
@englishsystem, there are plenty of problems with Bangladesh, but "not civil"? That has colonialist undertones. I doubt you meant it that way, but it's still not a fair characterization. Bangladesh has a pretty low violent crime rate and is relatively stable. The worst thing tourists have to look out for is pick-pocketing or people trying to rip you off. Corruption is also a problem, but probably not something you'd run into as much at major tourist attractions. I'll grant that it's more dangerous for women, but even then I think it's okay as long as they are traveling with a male.

I definitely agree with Jerry and Yossarian that there are some very beautiful parts worth seeing outside the cities, and while Bangladesh doesn't have a very large tourism industry, it's something that being developed. Cox's Bazaar, for example, is becoming popular among Westerners. I think tourism will become safer and more feasible in the next few decades, as the country develops.

+1
Level 83
Oct 29, 2023
I mean... 'developing country' also has colonialist undertones
+1
Level 58
Nov 18, 2024
I don't understand how either of those phrases could be read as having colonialist over or undertones. If "more civil" implies the people aren't polite, then that's merely a matter of personal experience and opinion and has nothing to do with colonialism - nor, as it goes, to do with violent crime or the stability of society. If I find the people in Berlin to be frequently uncivil, it doesn't mean I think they are benighted colonials, nor that it's a violent or unstable city.

To be fair though I don't know what "equivalent draw" means, so perhaps I'm misunderstanding "more civil"

+2
Level 66
Oct 15, 2015
That's funny...while I was taking the quiz I was wondering what the lowest ratio was and I thought Bangladesh because it's so densely populated and nobody goes there.
+2
Level 94
May 12, 2019
I think I pointed out on another quiz you can work it out for north korea. They have organized trips of around 6000 westerners a year. Not sure about Asian countries' visitors. Population is (said to be) 25 million so also lowest on the list with Bangladesh at <1/1000.
+1
Level 82
Oct 3, 2024
When I visited, the tourist visa on arrival in 2014 was recorded in pen in a notebook. I sincerely doubt the record could ever be found again. Most people were quite surprised when I said I was only there as a tourist. Of course most tourist are other Bangladeshis visiting family, but there is a lot of tourism, both domestic and international- just not a lot of foreigners. Most people who visit without ties to Bangladesh are on some kind of business. I went because I happen to know a lot of Bangla people. I met some who were visiting and friends of friends in Sylhet. There are a lot of resorts in Cox's Bazaar. The beach was totally deserted because of some unrest due to elections and it was not a holiday season.
+1
Level 67
Apr 11, 2025
Highest population density among "not so small countries" also.
+2
Level 59
Jul 25, 2015
If Hawaii was a country unto itself, I wonder where it would be on this list.
+1
Level 51
Aug 2, 2015
True. I also wonder where Alaska would rank if it were a country.
+6
Level 22
Oct 15, 2015
Hawaii is bae.. such volcano, such lava, such earthquake, such geography
+10
Level 20
Oct 19, 2015
And the largest percentage of homeless people in all of the fifty states..
+12
Level 66
Nov 27, 2019
Why bother with a house in paradise?
+3
Level 74
Oct 11, 2018
Nevada would be higher
+4
Level 66
Oct 15, 2015
I have officially been to one of these countries: Estonia.
+59
Level 58
Nov 24, 2017
Where have you been unofficially...?
+2
Level 45
Dec 22, 2018
haha
+2
Level 70
Sep 25, 2019
fitheach +1
+2
Level 74
May 9, 2020
Maybe this was his only bussiness trip, the rest were personal holidays
+2
Level 89
Nov 26, 2019
I've been to two: Austria and Croatia.
+3
Level 74
Jun 8, 2020
I’ve been to all of them(although Bahrain was me being stationed there as a soldier)
+4
Level 56
Oct 15, 2015
Holy cow! We Estonians get nearly 3 million tourists every year. Apparently the old town of Tallinn is famous. Also, some Estonians know how to sell Soviet-related stuff to tourists (because that's what tourists look for here). Then again, Russians often come here for vacations.
+10
Level 86
Oct 15, 2015
The old city center is beautiful and unique (city trips) and Estonia is dirt cheap for Western Europeans (bachelor parties and other debauchery). Additionally you have the excellent ferry connections to Helsinki, offering a convenient day trip for tourists and allowing the Finnish to regularly stock their bars with cheap liquor. Didn't surprise me one bit that Estonia is included.
+1
Level 85
Oct 26, 2016
day trippers are likely not included in the statistics
+6
Level 86
Sep 1, 2017
Then Vatican City would be practically 0.
+2
Level 85
Sep 26, 2017
Vatican most likely wasn't included when I posted that comment. I'm not sure now if the sourceis the same for all countries, if Vatican is here, surely e.g. Singapore should be also.
+1
Level 11
Oct 15, 2015
xD why not keep their stats .-. I've been to Maldives, china, morocco, Korea, japan, Russia?, Canada, USA, Bangladesh, and I live in panama.
+10
Level 58
Nov 24, 2017
That's nice for you. Aren't you sure if you've been to Russia or not?
+1
Level 83
Jul 7, 2020
Maybe they went to a part of the USSR?
+1
Level 11
Oct 15, 2015
maybe because its ugly xD
+1
Level 43
Oct 15, 2015
I first thought the Vatican had a decimal too many if it was supposed to be on top, until I realized it was a comma...
+2
Level 75
Oct 15, 2015
I did better trying to guess countries with low population than those with high tourist numbers.
+1
Level 93
Oct 15, 2015
Not to throw cold water on the quiz, but what constitutes a "visit" to these little postage stamp countries is far different than a visit to a larger one. The typical visit to these places may not even include a single overnight stay and bring very little money into the economy compared to tourists in larger countries that are going to stay awhile. You're never going to convince me that San Marino is twice as "touristy" as Italy or France.
+2
Level 71
Jan 28, 2021
If you've ever had a coffee in the Vatican, you'll know that they bring in a loooooot of money, even without the overnight stays!
+1
Level 89
Sep 27, 2024
Expensive since each cup is blessedly made with holy water.
+1
Level 14
Oct 15, 2015
7/28
+1
Level 46
Oct 17, 2015
When it comes to "per capita" stuffs, it seems that micro-nations usually win.
+4
Level 74
Jan 8, 2019
really? I wonder if that has something to do with the amount of inhabitants they have..
+1
Level 71
Jan 28, 2021
Nah - correlation isn't causation! It must be something else.
+2
Level 28
Dec 4, 2015
very surprised Australia isn't on here
+1
Level 66
Feb 16, 2017
I was thinking the same thing.
+2
Level 82
Mar 20, 2017
Australia gets 7-8 million tourists each year, but the population is too big for the ratio to be even close in this quiz.
+5
Level 78
Nov 26, 2019
Maybe if they didn't put their country so far away from everybody else more people would visit
+1
Level 51
Nov 27, 2019
We also have onerous visa requirements, until recently a very strong dollar (and it's still expensive even with the lower exchange rate) and the travelling distances between attractions within Australia are still vast.
+1
Level 74
May 9, 2020
I like how you have used the word still, like they are planning to shrink Australia in the near future ;)
+2
Level 85
May 28, 2016
Other name for this quiz: countries with very small populations that aren't repulsive or dangerous. That would get you most of the answers.
+1
Level 66
Feb 16, 2017
Doesn't slip off the tongue as well as 'Most touristy countries' though does it . :)
+3
Level 81
Nov 8, 2023
Repulsive or dangerous? Gimme a break, go judge something else
+1
Level 51
Mar 9, 2017
I think Monako should be added.
+3
Level 76
Sep 3, 2017
If you include Countries 197 to 205 , then Sint Maarten (13.40), Aruba (10.00), Cook Islands (8.06) and Niue (5.44) make the list.
+6
Level 73
Dec 8, 2017
You would think Saudi Arabia with the hajj
+2
Level 81
Sep 25, 2019
Hajjis aren't really tourists, Saudi Arabia gets almost 0 tourism apart from religious pilgrims, and altogether even including Saudis themselves there are maybe 6-8 million pilgrims who make hajj each year, less than a quarter of the total population of the country so the ratio would be much smaller than those listed.
+2
Level 78
Nov 26, 2019
Didn't they recently start issuing genuine tourist visas?
+1
Level 81
Nov 26, 2019
I heard that they were going to. Not sure if they have yet or not. But if they do, those will be different from Hajj or Umrah visas.
+2
Level 70
Sep 25, 2019
Then the Vatican should not count as most visitors are 'religious pilgrims' .
+2
Level 76
Sep 25, 2019
I disagree
+4
Level 84
Nov 26, 2019
What a silly thing to say
+1
Level 81
Nov 26, 2019
not even close to being true. And the religious pilgrims that go to Mecca are not "religious pilgrims," they are, in fact, believers performing a specific religious duty. They are not tourists in any sense of the word. Unless Catholics taking communion or going to confession are tourists.
+1
Level 81
Nov 8, 2023
Malbaby didn't call them tourists
+1
Level 92
Nov 18, 2024
Tourists, visitors, what's the difference?
+1
Level 81
Nov 26, 2019
Though once in a while there will be an atheist working on contract basis in the country who converted to Islam for the lolz and used his Muslim laminate to get in to Mecca without any intention of performing hajj, but that happens very rarely, and wouldn't be counted in these stats anyway since he had his iqama and was officially a resident of the country at the time.
+1
Level 71
Jan 28, 2021
Catholics who go to confession somewhere they don't live are definitely tourists. Towns like Santiago de Compostella or Lourdes get a huge chunk of their revenue from such tourism.
+3
Level 81
Apr 20, 2021
Taking communion is a specifically prescribed religious duty of Catholicism. Going on vacation somewhere and taking communion in a far away church is not. Performing hajj is a specifically prescribed, highly ritualized religious duty. Hajjis in Mecca are not there sightseeing. The Saudis have bulldozed most of the historically significant sites around the city to make way for more hotels and such. The only significant thing to them is the kabaa. It's very, very different.
+2
Level 81
Nov 8, 2023
You think people in Santiago de Compostela or Lourdes are there for sightseeing? Communion is still a "prescribed religious duty" regardless of where you are in the world. I have no reason to believe that these are somehow "very, very different." It's still pilgrimage.
+3
Level 76
Sep 25, 2019
Where do the Vatican stats come from? Vatican City does not appear in the country stats in the UN World Tourism Organisation link you give. The stats there are for overnight visits, and since Vatican Citiy has no hotels at all, the number of overnight visit tourists would be very few indeed. Even if you count day visitors, there would be no way of counting numbers, because the border is unmarked and unpatrolled and people just wander in and out of the bits they can access, namely Piazza San Pietro (St Peter's Square), the Sistine Chapel, and some museums.
+2
Level 78
Nov 26, 2019
No hotels, but the pope is a big couchsurfing fan and has a massive living room
+1
Level 41
Nov 28, 2019
If the Canary Islands were independent we would be fourth. 16 million tourists a year but only 2 million inhabitants.
+3
Level 63
Mar 16, 2020
I'm surprised that Montenegro is the least guessed country. It's very touristic, with great seaside and cities like Kotor.
+2
Level 71
Dec 19, 2021
I've been there, and was also surprised that it didn't end up on the list. As a Finn it's also funny to see Estonia up there because I've definitely done my part of boosting those numbers up lol
+1
Level 43
Nov 3, 2022
I have been to seven from these: Vatican, Liechtenstein, Croatia, Austria, Greece, Cyprus and Malta. All of them are cool countries, and fun fact, Liechtenstein has the least visits in Europe
+2
Level 51
Dec 18, 2022
Estonia is carried by drunk Finnish tourist!!!
+1
Level 89
Sep 27, 2024
I wonder why the UAE isn't on here. It's got virtually no actual citizens, and gets a gajillion visitors. (And to a lesser extent, Qatar and Kuwait.)
+1
Level ∞
Sep 27, 2024
We are counting residents not citizens.
+1
Level 67
Oct 4, 2024
missed iceland
+3
Level 35
Nov 18, 2024
Cyprus is in Europe, not Asia!
+3
Level 73
Nov 18, 2024
I'm really surprised about Albania.
+1
Level 74
Nov 18, 2024
Missed Albania and Grenada
+1
Level 71
Dec 12, 2024
Albania? Seriously? Never met anyone who went there for holidays or business. Would have rather expected Estonia or Latvia where the capitals are popular tourist destinations and which both have less inhabitants than Albania.

And Bahrain, but not UAE surprised me, too.

+1
Level 67
Jun 1, 2025
I feel like Albania is rising in popularity, I'd personally love to go there