Last year, the world did a whole lot of traveling. We went there, they came here, and we all intermingled and enjoyed seeing the best cities and the coolest neighborhoods in the world. We ate with gusto, guzzled gallons and set out on excursions that brought us to places that left us breathless—and made their way into our social media feeds. In all this jumble of sightseeing, 10 global cities drew the most visitors in 2024—and one of them was a down-home U.S. city.
We’re thinking you can probably guess what it is, but luckily, Euromonitor International did the number crunching for us. The one American city in the top 10? No surprises for anyone: it’s New York, our fabulous, cosmopolitan city on an island. Catch a show on Broadway, eat your way through neighborhoods with authentic international cuisines, visit world-class museums, see a gorgeous skyline and even get a little verklempt at the sight of the Statue of Liberty.
The Big Apple was the sole American destination on the list, which included fellow big-name urban locales as Barcelona, Sydney, Rome and Tokyo. NYC's West Coast cousin Los Angeles managed to make it onto the top 20, coming int at No. 18; it was followed five placers later by Las Vegas. Elsewhere on the larger top 100 list was Orlando (No. 33), Miami (No. 35), San Francisco (No. 36), Washington, DC. (No. 41) and Honolulu (No. 55).
First for the world is another unsurprising ranking: Paris. No one could ever argue that time spent in the romantic French capital isn’t going to leave you charmed and forever changed.
Euromonitor International’s ranking takes into account 55 different metrics across six key pillars: economic and business performance, tourism performance, tourism infrastructure, tourism policy and attractiveness, health and safety, and sustainability. Since three of the six pillars have to do with tourism, it’s clear these top cities are working hard to make sure your visit is a good one.
Here are the top 10 most visited cities in 2024:
1. Paris
2. Madrid
3. Tokyo
4. Rome
5. Milan
6. New York
7. Amsterdam
8. Sydney
9. Singapore
10. Barcelona