Prague ranks among world’s top 20 most-visited cities, 4th in Europe

The Czech Republic’s capital city of Prague is currently among the world’s top 20 most-visited cities, according to a new data released by Euromonitor.

Prague officially welcomed 8.8 million visitors in 2017, a whopping 7.4% increase over 2016, when the city saw 8.2 million arrivals.

That was good enough to rate the Czech capital #20 on Euromonitor’s list of the world’s most-visited cities, though the city might not be in the same position next year.

While Prague will record an estimated 9 million arrivals in 2018 – a 2.6% increase over the previous year, and the first time ever the city has crossed the 9 million mark – Saudi Arabia’s Mecca is expected to oust the Prague from the top 20 with 9.5 million visitors.

Euromonitor’s rankings are based on official 2017 figures rather than 2018 estimates.

The Czech capital also ranks as the fourth most-visited city in the European Union, behind London (19.8 million arrivals), Paris (15.8), and Rome (9.5). If one expands the rankings to Europe-wide, including Turkey, Prague also falls behind Istanbul (10.7) and Ankara (9.5).

Amsterdam, Vienna, Barcelona, and Milan round out the top 10 most-visited cities in Europe, though only Amsterdam (7.8 million arrivals) falls within 2 million visitors of Prague.

Across the globe, Asian locations dominate the top 10 list of most-visited cities, with Hong Kong, Bangkok, Singapore, and Macau all in the top 5.

At 13.1 million visitors, New York City was the only US destination with more arrivals than Prague in 2017.

Here’s Euromonitor’s full list of the world’s top 20 most-visited cities: