Tourism is big business, in fact it’s one of the largest in the world. It also impacts different cities in different ways. Some places attract a lot of business and leisure travellers, while others have far less traffic. The most interesting way to understand how significant the impact of tourism is on a city is to look at the arrival numbers as a percentage of the city’s population. The most popular cities with travelers are some of the globe’s most sought after destinations.
The World Cities Culture Forum compiles this kind of data to help their member cities evaluate the value tourism. Understanding the number of international arrivals is important as it shows how popular a city is with global travelers and also how important tourism is to its local economy.
The World Cities Culture Forum provides a way for policy makers in 38 key cities to share research and intelligence, and explore the vital role of culture in their future prosperity. it’s goal is to help civic leaders better deal with the great policy issues of our age, from tackling climate change to promoting social equality.
Number of International Tourists per Year as % of City Population
| City | Per capita | Date |
| Hong Kong | 789.10% | 2017 |
| Lisbon | 616.00% | 2015 |
| Dublin | 465.20% | 2017 |
| Edinburgh | 392.70% | 2017 |
| Amsterdam | 373.00% | 2017 |
| Taipei | 362.10% | 2016 |
| Rome | 305.00% | 2017 |
| Milan | 292.00% | 2017 |
| Vienna | 258.30% | 2014 |
| London | 220.20% | 2017 |
| Stockholm | 205.00% | 2016 |
| Helsinki | 183.60% | 2017 |
| Montréal | 160.00% | 2017 |
| San Francisco | 159.50% | 2016 |
| Warsaw | 153.00% | 2014 |
| New York | 147.30% | 2016 |
| Seoul | 135.90% | 2017 |
| Paris | 132.30% | 2017 |
| Madrid | 116.00% | 2013 |
| Tokyo | 88.00% | 2015 |
| Istanbul | 82.00% | 2014 |
| Sydney | 78.80% | 2016 |
| Buenos Aires | 77.20% | 2014 |
| Los Angeles | 69.90% | 2017 |
| Austin | 65.00% | 2017 |
| Melbourne | 55.70% | 2017 |
| Moscow | 38.40% | 2018 |
| Cape Town | 37.50% | 2017 |
| Shanghai | 35.30% | 2016 |
| Johannesburg | 35.20% | 2010 |
| Toronto | 33.10% | 2017 |
| Singapore | 27.80% | 2017 |
| Brussels | 22.40% | 2013 |
| Bogotá | 21.90% | 2017 |
| Chengdu | 18.80% | 2016 |
| Shenzhen | 14.10% | 2016 |
| Lagos | 6.60% | 2017 |
