The table compares the number of people who visited eight top tourist destinations in 2009 and 2010 and illustrates how the proportion of tourists changed over these years.
Overall, the proportion of tourists in Turkey, China, and Germany increased significantly over the period, whereas only slight growth was observed in the remaining countries. It is also worth noting that while the number of visitors to France remained unchanged, it was the most popular country among tourists in both years.
In 2009, 76 million tourists visited France, making it the dominant destination—10 million higher than the second-ranked country, the US. The numbers of tourists in the UK and Spain were similar, with each receiving 55 million visitors, while both held a clear advantage over Italy in terms of visitor numbers, with an 11% gap. The figures for Italy, Turkey, China, and Germany revealed a similar disparity in their rankings, respectively.
In 2010, France retained its leading position, with the number of tourists remaining unchanged. The US and Spain saw a slight increase of around 1.5% in visitor numbers, while the UK experienced a slightly higher growth, reaching 57 million visitors. The number of arrivals in both Italy and Turkey rose to 45 million, albeit starting from different initial figures. The most pronounced increases were seen in China and Germany, where tourist numbers rose by 55% and 109%, respectively. However, they remained in the lower ranks with 34 million and 23 million visitors, respectively.
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