New Caledonia
The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has issued its report on the International Overview of this sector worldwide.
As the report explains, “During the last six decades, tourism has experienced continuous expansion and diversification, becoming one of the largest and fastest growing economic sectors in the world.
International tourist arrivals in the world have increased from 25 million in 1950 to 278 million in 1980, 674 million in 2000, and 1,235 million in 2016.
By region, according to the UNWTO classification, Asia and the Pacific are at the forefront of growth, with a 9% increase in international arrivals. It is closely followed by Africa, with an increase of 8% and in third place we find the Americas (+3%) .
In Europe it increased by 2%, being the most visited region in the world, although with uneven results according to the regions.
Regarding the Middle East, and according to available data, the report indicates that international arrivals decreased by 4%.
Kiribati
The most visited countries in 2016 were France, the United States, Spain, China, Italy and the United Kingdom.
But, what about the least frequented countries? Are we missing out on corners of the world that are well worth a visit?
** Tuvalu , Kiribati and Niue .** Do these names ring a bell? Would you know how to locate them on the globe? These three countries, belonging to Oceania , occupy the first three positions of the ranking of the least visited states in the world.
The small archipelago of Tuvalu received 2,000 visits in 2016, being the least visited country in the world, followed by 5,000 in Kiribati and 8,000 in Niue.
Tuvaluan
Although most of the states that occupy the top positions on the list of least visited countries are part of Oceania, we also find European countries: San Marino, Liechtenstein and Moldova, with 60,000, 69,000 and 121,000 visits in 2016, respectively.
Also, the list includes some states bathed by the Caribbean as well as African and Asian states.
The three least visited countries in Asia in 2016 were: ** East Timor (72,000 visits), Bhutan (210,000 visits) and Brunei (219,000 visits).**
The data available for Africa reveals that the least visited countries on this continent were: ** Sierra Leone (54,000 visits), Eritrea (142,000 visits) and Benien (267,000 visits).**
War-torn countries such as Syria and Afghanistan.
You may also be surprised that other states such as Bangladesh, Pakistan or Guinea do not appear. This is due to the fact that there are no data for 2016, although the figures for previous years suggest that they follow the same line of belonging to the least visited in the world.
If you are one of those who does not like to mix with the rest of the tourists, you have an explorer vein or you simply want to discover these unknown places, here is the list of the least visited countries in the world.
Sierra Leone