USA vs Spain: Which Country Gets More Tourists
Browse more guides: Spain travel | Europe destinations USA vs Spain: Which Country Gets More Tourists Last updated: April 2026 · 11 min read Here's the answer up front, because most readers guess wrong: Spain gets more international tourists than the United States. Not by a small margin either. In 2023, Spain logged 85.2 million international arrivals versus the USA's 66.5 million (UNWTO). That's an 18.7-million-visitor gap. The USA is roughly 20 times larger by land area, has 7 times the population, and spends vastly more on tourism marketing. Spain still wins. If that surprises you, it shouldn't. Spain has held the #2 or #3 global ranking for two decades. France always sits at #1 (100M+ in 2023). Spain trades positions with the USA depending on the year, and post-COVID, Spain ran ahead. TL;DR: Spain beat the USA by ~18M international tourist arrivals in 2023 (85.2M vs 66.5M). Why? Schengen open borders make European weekend trips count as international arri...