With cities and towns all over Europe, and some on other continents vying for travel business, the ones that are growing fastest stand out—and perhaps in a couple of years will feature in news stories on measures against over-tourism. You always have to be careful what you wish for.
The UN’s World Tourism Organization, which tracks such things, has listed 2018’s 20 fastest-growing destinations, and it’s full of both easy-to-see numbers (such as the continuing recovery of tourism in such places as Turkey and Tunisia, which took steep declines in recent years because of terrorism fears) and some that are unexpected, including the high places on the list for Ecuador, Tuvalu and Tonga.
But remember that these aren’t travelers, they’re growth rates. That’s why you don’t see such powerhouse destinations as Spain and France on the list, but you do see smaller European countries such as Albania, Serbia and Macedonia. To take a number example, Tuvalu, in place #2 had a 35.5% jump—from 2,000 visitors to 2,700.
At the top, the list, for percentage increase in visitors, 2018 v 2017:
