Spain could overtake France as the world’s most visited country by 2040, new research suggests.

According to a joint study by Deloitte and Google, Spain, with an estimated 110 million inbound arrivals in 2040, may take top place for annual visitors.

France, currently the world’s most visited country with 102 million annual international visitors recorded in 2025, is projected to welcome 105 million visitors in 2040.

Spain hosted a record 96.8 million international tourists last year, according to Spain’s National Institute of Statistics.

The companies behind the analysis say the research will “help travel operators and distributors anticipate and adapt to future trends”.

It found that from 1975, tourism generally grew at a rapid pace up to 2019, with the number of global inbound arrivals doubling around every 15 years to reach almost 1.5 billion travellers.

Since 2010, the world’s top five most visited destinations – France, Spain, the US, China and Italy – have generally maintained their position, the study added.

Deloitte and Google anticipate 2.4 billion global trips by 2040, a sizable increase when compared to 2019 figures (1.5 billion).

In July, new data revealed that the Czech Republic is becoming an increasingly popular country to visit with the fastest-growing travel bookings in Europe.

The central European country stood out as the top destination with the highest growth in bookings between May 2025 and April 2026, with a year-on-year growth of 18 per cent in terms of air travel.

Conducted by travel data analysts Amadeus in collaboration with UN Tourism, Iceland came second in the list, with an 11 per cent growth rate, followed by Denmark with eight per cent.

Read more: This central European country is the fastest-growing tourist destination on the continent