# France on course to lose crown as world’s most-visited country – with UK’s favourite set to take top spot despite furious overtourism protests

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/france-on-course-to-lose-crown-as-worlds-most-visited-country-with-uks-favourite-set-to-take-top-spot-despite-furious-overtourism-protests/
- Published: 2026-08-24T08:05:21+00:00
- Updated: 2026-08-24T08:20:35+00:00
- Original publisher: Daily Mail (publisher lean: Right)
- Original article: https://www.dailymail.com/travel/article-16069971/france-visited-country-spain-uk-favourite-overtourism.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490
- Topics: Americas, Culture, Europe, Travel, World

## Key points

- Spain set to overtake France as world's top tourist destination by 2040
- Spain projected 110 million visitors versus France's 105 million
- Comes amid fierce overtourism protests across Spain, including Majorca

## Summary

France broke its own record in 2025 by welcoming 102 million international visitors, making it the world's most-visited country, but new research from Deloitte and Google suggests it will lose that crown to Spain by 2040. Spain is forecast to reach 110 million inbound visitors by then, overtaking France's projected 105 million, a milestone that would confirm the country's enduring appeal to British holidaymakers despite growing local anger over the strain mass tourism places on housing and communities.

Spain already recorded an all-time high of 97 million visitors last year, with 19.1 million of them from the UK spending nearly €24 billion in 2025 alone, drawn to resorts such as Benidorm and cities like Barcelona. The US, China and Mexico are expected to round out the top five most-visited nations by 2040, as Europe overall is projected to gain more than 362 million extra visitors between 2019 and 2040 and global trips climb to 2.4 billion. The forecast comes against a backdrop of intensifying overtourism protests in Spain, including recent demonstrations in Majorca over rising housing costs and congestion, and controversial guidance from anti-tourism groups urging "non-violent direct action" against businesses linked to the industry.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.