(£7.9m) The cost of
Tourism Australia’s
most recent TV
campaign starring
Kylie Minogue,
which has since
been suspended due
to the bushires.A$15M
2018
IMAGES: GETTYARRIVALS & DEPARTURES
VISITOR ARRIVALS ARE ON THE UP IN VILNIUS AND MEXICO CITY — BUT WHERE
ELSE HAS SEEN A CHANGE IN TOURIST NUMBERS? WORDS: NICOLA TRUPTHE INFOIN NUMBERS2,855,438
The number of visitors to
the Tower of London in 2018,
making it Britain’s most-visited
paid attraction.#1
A 3.7% rise in the number
of visitors to Tate Modern
saw it become the country’s
most-visited free attraction,
knocking the British Museum
of the top spot.-4%
Britain saw a 4% drop in
overseas visitors in 2018.
Despite this, visitor numbers
to tourist attractions increased
by 9%, possibly indicting an
uptick in domestic travel.BRITISH ATTRACTIONS
In Bruges
In an efort to reduce visitor
numbers, the Belgian city has
stopped promoting itself as
a day trip destination. The
number of cruise ships docking
at nearby Zeebrugge has also
been capped at two per day,
down from ive.SPAIN
FRANCE
ITALY
USA
IRELAND
PORTUGAL
GERMANY
NETHERLANDS
POLAND
GREECESOURCES: VILNIUS-TOURISM.LT; FERDAMALASTOFA.IS; NEWSROOM.MASTERCARD.COM;
SLTDA.LK/MONTHLY-TOURIST-ARRIVALS-REPORTS-2019; TTGMEDIA.COM;
PARTNERNET.HKTB.COM; THEGUARDIAN.COM; VISITBRITAIN.ORG;
EDITION.CNN.COM; INDEPENDENT.COM; TELEGRAPH.CO.UK; ONS.GOV.UKVILNIUS
Lithuania’s capital
had 1.1 million
visitors in the last
nine months of
2019 (up 13.7% on
2018’s igures) in
the wake of the
‘G-spot of Europe’
tourism campaign.ICELAND
Iceland’s Kelavík
Airport saw
visitor numbers
quadruple between
2011 and 2018
(from 540,000 to
2.3 million). In 2019,
the igure fell 14.2%
to 1.9 million.PARIS
In 2018, Paris
knocked London
of the top spot of
most-visited city
in Europe. It had
19.1 million visitors,
up from 17.4 million
in 2017 — London
had 19.09 million.SRI LANKA
Tourist numbers
fell ater the 2019
Easter bombings,
notably in May
(down 70% on the
same month in
2018). By November,
the diference was
just 9.5%.HONG KONG
Hong Kong saw
a 55.9% slump in
visitor numbers,
from 5.9 million in
November 2018 to
2.6 million a year
on — likely due
to the ongoing
political protests.-55.9% -14.2% -9.5% 9.7% 13.7%
AMSTERDAM SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS NEW ZEALAND
As of January 2020,
hotel guests in
the Dutch capital
must pay €3 (£2.55)
per person per
night, as well as the
established 7% tax.Highland Council has
voted to introduce
a £1-per-night tax
on campers, which
will go towards
maintaining local
towns and villages.An ‘admission fee’
of NZ$35 (£18) was
introduced in 2019 for
most foreign visitors;
Australians and some
Paciic Islanders
are exempt.COUNTRIES MOST VISITED BY UK RESIDENTS IN 2018
15,618,000
8,556,000
4,325,000
3,472,000
3,218,000
2,818,000
2,813,000
2,716,000
2,472,000
2,468,000Tourist taxes
TAKE THREE
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 910MEXICO CITY
There were
15.7 million
visitor arrivals
in the Mexican
capital between
January and
October 2019,
compared to
14 million in 2018.12%
TRAVEL GEEKS
152 nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel