50 most-visited tourist attractions in the world

If you are looking to tour the world but don't know where to start, here are 50 of the world's most popular destinations you should definitely not miss.

These attractions, such as the Las Vegas Strip, Niagara Falls and Beijing's Forbidden City, are so popular because they are the world's most iconic destinations and have been featured in numerous films, books and television series.

Using the latest data from the attractions' own published figures, industry and government reports, UK-based travel start-up Love Home Swap compiled an infographic which reveals 50 destinations in the world that are most popular among tourists. It also shows how many visitors the attractions have each year, as well as the peak season for each destination.

The most popular tourist attraction is the Las Vegas Strip, where nearly 40 million people visit every year. Placed second is New York's Times Square which sees more than 39 million visitors each year.

While attractions in the US take up more than half the spots, Love Home Swap noted that it is an extremely well-visited country whose own citizens are known to go on domestic holidays.

Out of the 50 attractions, 12 are from Asia, with Beijing's Forbidden City ranked highest among them at the 10th spot. Hong Kong's Ocean Park and Victoria Peak beat the Eiffel Tower and London's British Museum to take 35th and 36th spots respectively.

Some attractions that made it to the list are family-friendly, such as South Korea's two theme parks - Everland and Lotte World - as well as Universal Studios Hollywood and the numerous Disneyland theme parks in Orlando, Japan and France.

The original article by Love Home Swap is available here.

ngkaren@sph.com.sg