Saudi Arabia leads tourism boom as global travel map shifts
Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Egypt, Brazil and Colombia have emerged among the biggest tourism winners since the COVID-19 pandemic, while several established destinations are still receiving fewer international visitors than in 2019, reports a Qazinform News Agency correspondent.
The OECD Tourism Trends and Policies 2026 report compares international tourist arrivals in 2025 with pre-pandemic figures from 2019, showing how the global tourism landscape has changed.
Across OECD countries, international arrivals reached 847 million in 2025, exceeding pre-pandemic levels. However, the recovery has been far from equal.
Saudi Arabia recorded the strongest increase among the countries covered by the report. International arrivals jumped 67%, from 17.5 million in 2019 to 29.3 million in 2025.
Morocco followed with growth of 53%, while Egypt recorded a 47% increase. Brazil and Malta both saw arrivals rise 46%, while Colombia posted growth of 45%.
Japan also strengthened its position as a major tourism destination, welcoming 42.7 million international visitors in 2025, 34% more than in 2019.
Europe presented a more mixed picture. Spain received 96.8 million international tourists, representing 16% growth from 2019. France remained the world's most visited destination with around 102 million arrivals, up 12%, while Greece recorded an 11% increase.
Other European countries have yet to fully recover. Ireland's international arrivals remained 32% below 2019 levels, while Estonia was down 16%. Hungary and Lithuania both recorded declines of around 15%.
Several traditional tourism heavyweights also struggled. International arrivals remained 14% below 2019 levels in the United States, 11% lower in Canada and 17% lower in Thailand.
In South America, the contrast was particularly notable. While Brazil and Colombia posted strong growth, Argentina recorded a 23% decline and Peru fell 22%.
Israel experienced the sharpest decrease among the destinations covered, with international arrivals remaining 71% below their 2019 level amid geopolitical tensions.
The figures suggest that although global tourism has recovered from the pandemic, travelers are increasingly turning toward emerging destinations in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Asia, reshaping the international tourism market.
Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that Brazil recorded a historic increase in domestic air travel between January and May 2026, with 42 million passengers taking domestic flights, up 6% from 39.8 million during the same period in 2025, according to the Ministry of Tourism.