Ahead of its Olympic year, Paris already tops the list of global city destinations

While 2024 is poised to be a great year for tourism in Paris as host of the Olympic Games, the French capital is already a popular choice among international travelers. For the third year running, Paris tops the list of most attractive city destinations, ahead of Dubai, Madrid and Tokyo.

A few weeks ago, the online tour operator eDreams Odigeo reported that Paris was currently the most booked trip for 2024. Lonely Planet, meanwhile, placed the City of Light second in its ranking of next year's must-see destinations in the city category (behind Nairobi, Kenya). Similarly, in November, the Opodo platform noted a 55% increase in searches for flights to Paris for the Olympic Games next July/August, with interest coming primarily from travelers in the US, UK, Spain, Canada and Italy. As such, the French capital is already shaping up to be a hot ticket for 2024.

For 2023, Paris tops the list of the world's 100 most attractive city destinations, compiled by the UK market research firm, Euromonitor International. This ranking evaluates the overall attractiveness of a city to tourists, taking into account factors such as the infrastructure available to travelers and the policies relating to this sector. The French capital also saw a 4% increase in international arrivals.

At a time when international tourism has well and truly turned the page on the pandemic, with a 38% increase in international travel between January and September 2023 compared to the same period in 2022, the French capital continues to shine as the world's top tourist destination, despite the growth in international arrivals in Istanbul (+26%), London (+17%), Dubai (+18%), Antalya (+29%), Bangkok (+142%) and Hong Kong (+2495%).

Also read: Top 5 of the world's best cities for 2024

While Dubai takes second place, the ranking above all highlights Europe's tourist credentials as a must-see destination for many travelers. Just as the Old Continent figures prominently in the list of the most searched-for destinations on Google in 2023 -- with Greece in the lead, followed by Spain, Italy, Portugal, Croatia and Cyprus -- only Tokyo (Japan) and New York (USA) make it into Euromonitor's top 10. Overall, in the top 100, Europe takes no less than 63 places. According to the research firm, the reasons for this performance include Europe's ability to implement urbanization plans and to introduce technology where it is needed.