Quest's World of Wonder
World's fastest-growing tourist destinations for 2017
Francesca Street, CNN • Updated 21st August 2017
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(CNN) — Don't be surprised if your favorite city feels a bit more crowded the next time you visit.
The United Nations World Tourism Organization has released its latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer and the flood of global travelers looking to journey beyond their borders is stronger than ever.
Numbers indicate that destinations worldwide received 369 million international tourists (overnight visitors) in the first four months of 2017 -- a whopping 21 million more than in the same few months of 2016.
Perhaps even more surprising are the report's figures highlighting the fastest-growing tourist destinations in 2017, based on international arrivals.
These include up-and-coming destinations such as Mongolia, alongside tourism stalwarts Vietnam and Iceland.
The data also reveals that countries recently plagued by terrorism or political unrest -- such as Egypt and Tunisia -- still have the tourism pull to rebound from a downward turn.
Intrigued? Here are UNWTO's fastest-growing tourist destinations in 2017, along with their growth rates, and their full-year figures for 2016.
1. Palestinian territories: up 57.8%. (400,000 visitors in 2016).
2. Egypt: up 51%. (5.26 million visitors in 2016).
3. Northern Mariana Islands: up 37.3%. (531,000 visitors in 2016).
4. Iceland: up 34.9%. (1.79 million visitors in 2016).
5. Tunisia: up 32.5%. (5.7 million visitors in 2016).
6. Vietnam: up 31.2%. (10 million visitors in 2016).
7. Uruguay: up 30.2%. (3 million visitors in 2016).
8. Nicaragua: up 28.4%. (1.5 million visitors in 2016).
9. Mongolia: up 28.3%. (404,000 visitors in 2016).
10. Israel: up 25.1%. (2.9 million visitors in 2016).
