The chart above shows the number of tourists per square mile that visited each EU and US state in 2012. Malta has over ten times the tourist density of the next highest state.
Findings
- The difference between the state with the most international tourists per square mile, Malta, and the state with the least, Alaska, is 9,802.01 tourists per square mile (3,784 tourists per square kilometer).
- Malta has 97,846.61 times the international tourists per area that Alaska does.
- The median number of international tourists per square mile in the 28 EU states is 215.54 (83.22 per square kilometer) and the mean 602.06 (232.46 per square kilometer).
- The median number of international tourists per square mile in the 50 US states is 7.82 (3.02 per square kilometer) and the mean 45.66 (17.63 per square kilometer).
- The median number of international tourists per square mile in the 78 EU and US states is 27.41 (10.58 per square kilometer) and the mean 245.40 (94.75 per square kilometer).
- Only seven states had a tourist density of over 500 visitors per square mile (in descending order of density): Malta, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Hawaii, and Cyprus. These same states are also the only ones to have a tourist density of over 200 visitors per square kilometer.
Caveats
- Tourist data is from 2012 except for Ireland which is from 2014.
- All figures are rounded to the nearest hundredth.
Details
Malta and Alaska have the highest and lowest tourist densities and are also the smallest and largest states geographically, respectively.
Austria is the only state to be ranked in the top ten in total tourists, per capita tourists, and tourists per area.
Of the six states whose area is larger than 150,000 square miles Spain ranks first followed by (in descending order of tourist density): France, California, Sweden, Texas, and Alaska. The same six states are over 400,000 square kilometers.
Of the five states whose area is smaller than 5,000 square miles Malta ranks first followed by (in descending order of tourist density): Luxembourg, Cyprus, Rhode Island, and Delaware. The same five states are smaller than 10,000 square kilometers.
Sources
Eurostat. 2018. "Arrivals at Tourist Accommodation Establishments." Accessed September 18, 2018. http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-055748_QID_740A02AF_UID_-3F171EB0&layout=TIME,C,X,0;GEO,L,Y,0;C_RESID,L,Z,0;UNIT,L,Z,1;NACE_R2,L,Z,2;INDICATORS,C,Z,3;&zSelection=DS-055748NACE_R2,I551-I553;DS-055748C_RESID,FOR;DS-055748UNIT,NR;DS-055748INDICATORS,OBS_FLAG;&rankName1=C-RESID_1_2_-1_2&rankName2=UNIT_1_2_-1_2&rankName3=INDICATORS_1_2_-1_2&rankName4=NACE-R2_1_2_-1_2&rankName5=TIME_1_0_0_0&rankName6=GEO_1_2_0_1&sortC=ASC_-1_FIRST&rStp=&cStp=&rDCh=&cDCh=&rDM=true&cDM=true&footnes=false&empty=false&wai=false&time_mode=NONE&time_most_recent=false&lang=EN&cfo=%23%23%23%2C%23%23%23.%23%23%23.
National Trade and Tourism Office. 2018. "International Visitation in the United States." Accessed September 18, 2018. https://travel.trade.gov/outreachpages/inbound.general_information.inbound_overview.html.
National Trade and Tourism Office. 2018. "Survey of International Air Travelers." Accessed September 18, 2018. https://travel.trade.gov/research/programs/ifs/examples.asp.
United Nations. 2007. "United Nations Statistics Division - Environment Statistics." Accessed January 23, 2018. https://unstats.un.org/unsd/environment/totalarea.htm.
United States Census Bureau. September 2012. "United States Summary: 2010: Population and Housing Unit Counts." Accessed January 23, 2018. https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/cph-2-1.pdf.