Phuket experiences highest visitor density among international destinations

An analysis of the number of international visitors each year in some of the world’s most popular places shows that the Thailand resort island of Phuket experiences the highest visitor density with of 5,090 tourists per square mile.

Conducted by travel insurer Columbus Direct, the research shows that Phuket, known for having some of the world’s most picturesque beaches, hanging palm trees and lively atmosphere, attracts over 9.2 million tourists each year – on top of the local population of 380,000 people.

While European locations Palma de Mallorca, Paris and Barcelona also feature in the top five, Thailand’s Pattaya comes in at third place with 2,762 visitors per square mile.

Explaining the findings, Stuart Lloyd, Travel Insurance Expert at Columbus Direct stated “it is great to see the popularity of some of the world’s most cultural and historic cities, with millions of tourists travelling across the globe to visit them each year.

“Tourism is hugely important for all major cities across the globe, particularly for those where there is a high density of international visitors per square mile. As for Phuket and Pattaya, it brings these destinations to life and gives them their famous name of being a top holiday location and a place with a lively atmosphere for people to have a good time.”

The destinations with the highest number of tourists per square mile.

The report added that Bangkok receives the highest number of tourists in the world overall at a 20.5 million a year, 10 million more than Phuket, due to its size, the Thai capital receives just 91 tourists per square mile.

While Columbus Direct flags the research as indicating how to find the “perfect destination”, they also show the levels of potential of overtourism in the world’s most popular tourism locations.

In conducting its analysis, Columbus Direct used the total number of international visitors from Mastercard’s Global Destination Cities Index and divided that number by 365 to reveal how many visitors there were per day.

The study assumed a one night stay for each visit.

Click here to view the full report.

Main image: Phuket's Patong Beach.