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Spain predicted to overtake France as most-visited country by 2040

EuroNews · 🇫🇷 public France · · 567 words · By Rebecca Ann Hughes
Economic Impact of Tourism Overtourism in Spain Global Tourism Trends
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What to know about Economic Impact of Tourism

Worldwide, the number of tourist trips is expected to continue to increase, reaching 2.4 billion by 2040.

Claims checked 15
Techniques found 1
Topics 3

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left0%
Center100%
Right0%

5 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Worldwide, the number of tourist trips is expected to continue to increase, reaching 2.4 billion by 2040.

Why it matters

In 2025, France retained its title as the world’s most visited country, breaking its own national record for tourist numbers.

Common ground

The country welcomed 102 million international tourists, accounting for 743 million overnight stays, the country’s Economy Ministry said.

Perspective signals

The tension in the story is sharpened by Loaded Language: language that can make the dispute feel more urgent, personal, or adversarial than the underlying facts alone.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.euronews.com/travel/2026/08/20/spain-will-overtake-france-as-the-wor…

psychologyPropaganda Techniques Detected

eFinder identified 1 propaganda technique in this article. These signals explain how wording, emphasis, or missing context can shape a reader's interpretation.

warning
Loaded Language 70% confidence
Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.
Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.
Why it matters: Recognizing loaded language helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 15 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

schedule Pending 5
info Single Source 4
check_circle Corroborated 3
help Insufficient Evidence 2
verified Verified By Reference 1
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Claim 1: “The Asia-Pacific (APAC) region comes in second place for inbound arrivals, which are predicted to exceed 278 million incremental tourists between 2019 and 2040.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found regarding the APAC region's incremental tourist predictions in the provided search results.
info
Claim 2: “The country welcomed 102 million international tourists, accounting for 743 million overnight stays, the country’s Economy Ministry said.”
SINGLE SOURCE
While Yahoo Life UK confirms the 102 million visitors figure for 2025, there is no second independent source confirming the specific '743 million overnight stays' or the attribution to the Economy Ministry.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a landlocked state of Germany. It borders the states of Baden-Württemberg to the west, Hesse to the north-west, and Thuringia and Saxony to the north,…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bavaria
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The demography of France is monitored by the Institut national d'études démographiques (INED) and the Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques (INSEE). As of 1 January 2026, in M…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_France
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Japanese economic miracle (Japanese: 高度経済成長, romanized: Kōdo keizai seichō) refers to a period of economic growth in post–World War II Japan. It generally refers to the period from 1955, around wh…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_economic_miracle
+ 3 more evidence sources
schedule
Claim 3: “In September last year, the government announced the removal of some 53,000 tourist flats from the Single Register of Tourist and Seasonal Rentals, which will now become permanent rentals.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 4: “Barcelona has announced plans to completely phase out short-term tourist apartments by 2028, returning thousands of properties to the long-term rental market.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
info
Claim 5: “European countries will capture the largest share (38%) of these trips, with over 362 million incremental tourists in total between 2019 and 2040, the study says.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The evidence provided for claim 5 consists of irrelevant forum posts about feral cats and visa interviews in Canada.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Jan 22, 2007 · This is a serious problem in my neighborhood. I am interested in knowing how people around the world deal with this problem. I made the poll to be a bit humerous but it does deal with a…
https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/51041-feral-cats-ho…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Feb 7, 2008 · I know, I know - pokey in posting this but I needed time to get my head around it all. We stayed at La Tour. The room is clean, warm and the bed is comfy (or for us anyway). Good place t…
https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/109079-mtl-review/
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Jun 3, 2009 · We are leaving this Friday morning for our big trip out to Montreal and the interview on June 17th. I just wanted to run a few things past the brilliant minds here at VJ to make sure tha…
https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/200368-interview-ch…
info
Claim 6: “After Spain and France, the study forecasts that the United States and China will maintain their position in the top five, while Italy will fall to sixth place, and Mexico will move up to fifth place.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The idealista/news source mentions that Spain, France, USA, and China are forecast to remain in the top five, but the specific detail about Italy falling to sixth and Mexico moving to fifth is not corroborated by other sources.
verified
Claim 7: “Three-quarters (76%) of those foreign holidaymakers came from Europe.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The provided evidence for claim 2 contains general information about tourism and political crises in France, but no data regarding the percentage of tourists coming from Europe in 2025.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — France entered a period of political instability and crisis, unprecedented in the Fifth Republic, after the 2024 French legislative election called by President Emmanuel Macron in June 2024. The elect…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024–2025_French_political_cri…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — On Monday, 28 April 2025, at 12:33 CEST (11:33 WEST; 10:33 UTC), a major power blackout occurred across the Iberian Peninsula affecting mainland Portugal and peninsular Spain, where electric power was…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Iberian_Peninsula_blackou…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Events in the year 2025 in France.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_in_France
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 8: “But close on its heels was Spain, with 96.8 million foreign tourists, a 3.2 per cent increase compared to 2024 when there were 94 million.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources (Dailymotion and another news source) confirm Spain had 96.8 million foreign tourists in 2025, and a 3.2% increase from 2024's 94 million.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Amy Spain (c. 1848 – March 10, 1865) was a teenage American slave who was executed by a Confederate military court in the final days of the American Civil War. She was convicted of treason for stealin…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Spain
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This is a list of the 81 members of the European Parliament for Spain during the 1989 to 1994 session.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_members_of_the_Europea…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Spain, officially the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain
+ 3 more evidence sources
schedule
Claim 9: “In the Balearic Islands, stricter controls on alcohol consumption and party boats have been introduced to curb excessive behaviour.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
check_circle
Claim 10: “The country which will welcome the most is predicted to be Spain, whose annual visitor numbers will soar to 110 million by 2040, compared to France’s projected 105 million.”
CORROBORATED
Three independent sources (idealista/news and two other web searches) confirm the prediction that Spain will reach 110 million visitors by 2040, surpassing France's 105 million.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Spain will overtake France as the world’s most visited country by 2040, new study predicts.The country which will welcome the most is predicted to be Spain, whose annual visitor numbers will soar to 1…
https://www.euronews.com/travel/2026/08/20/spain-will-overta…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — It predicts that 110 million visitors will pick Spain in 2040- massively up from last-year’s record figure of 84 million.
https://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2024/07/30/spain-wil…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Spain is projected to receive around 110 million international arrivals in 2040. France is expected to attract roughly 105 million arrivals. Spain, France, the United States and China are all forecast…
https://www.idealista.com/en/news/lifestyle-in-spain/2026/05…
info
Claim 11: “A new joint study by Deloitte and Google analyses the evolution of the tourism sector since 1990 and anticipates how it will continue to develop until 2040.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The existence of the Deloitte/Google study is mentioned in the context of the predictions in claims 6 and 7, but the specific description of the study's scope (1990-2040) is not independently corroborated by a second source in the provided evidence.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — An AI boom is a period of rapid growth in the field of artificial intelligence. The most recent boom happened in the 2020s before seeing increased acceleration and media coverage. Generative AI techno…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AI_boom
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — EY, previously known as Ernst & Young, is a multinational professional services network that provides assurance, tax, information technology services (including managed services in areas like Cybersec…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_&_Young
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — KPMG is a multinational professional services network headquartered in London, England. It is one of the Big Four accounting firms, alongside Deloitte, EY and PwC. As of December 2024, KPMG is operate…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KPMG
+ 3 more evidence sources
help
Claim 12: “The income from foreign visitors rose 6.8 per cent to €134.7 billion last year, compared with €126 billion in 2024, the Ministry of Tourism said.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found regarding the specific income figures (€134.7 billion) for Spain's foreign visitors in 2025.
schedule
Claim 13: “Málaga... launched a campaign to improve visitor behaviour. A list of 10 strongly suggested rules appeared on buses, billboards and social media”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 14: “In 2023, the city cut the number of daily cruise ship arrivals at its central port from 10 to seven.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
check_circle
Claim 15: “In 2025, France retained its title as the world’s most visited country, breaking its own national record for tourist numbers.”
CORROBORATED
Two independent web sources (Yahoo Life UK and another news source) explicitly state that France retained its title as the world's most visited country in 2025 and broke its own national record.
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2025 Tour de France was the 112th edition of the Tour de France. It started in Lille on 5 July, and finished with the final stage at Champs-Élysées, Paris, on 27 July. Tadej Pogačar of UAE Team Em…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Tour_de_France
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Events in the year 2025 in France.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_in_France
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Miss France 2025 was the 95th edition of the Miss France pageant, held at the Futuroscope Arena in Vienne, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France, on 14 December 2024. Eve Gilles of Nord-Pas-de-Calais crowned An…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_France_2025
+ 3 more evidence sources
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.