The 10 Most Visited Cities in the United States by Foreign Travelers

The 2013 year-end statistics are in from the National Travel and Tourism Office on the most popular cities in the United States with international visitors. Altogether, 32 million international travelers ventured to the United States in 2013 and almost all of them managed to make it to one of these 10 cities. While no city managed to change their 2012 position in the ranking, we can see from the spectacular and not-so-spectacular growth of some cities which cities are on the rise and which ones will soon be surpassed in 2014’s ranking of the most visited cities in the United States.

It’s important to note that visitors from Mexico and Canada are excluded from these statistics, which is why we don’t see an abundance of border cities.

10. Boston, Massachusetts, with 1,282,000 visitors

Boston has a healthy 500,000-visitor lead over the number 11 city, San Diego, and is sure to keep its position in 2014 as the 10th most visited city in the United States. Visitors to the city can enjoy learning about the American Revolution and strolling around the beautiful campus of Harvard. Boston also has some great seafood, like lobster rolls, and some great sports teams.

9. Chicago, Illinois, with 1,378,000 visitors

Chicago’s growth stalled in 2013, as it only received 10,000 more visitors than in 2012. It’s not like Chicago doesn’t have a lot going for it – the deep-dish pizza, storied sports teams, stunning architecture and a host of new luxury hotels – but it clearly needs to increase its international visibility.

8. Washington DC with 1,698,000 visitors

Though Washington DC is the 8th most visited city in the United States, it was also the only city in the top 10 to receive less visitors in 2013 than it did in 2012 – a 3% drop. Though it remains popular with American visitors, the museums of the Smithsonian can’t compete with the international draw of New York’s better known art museums and the city simply doesn’t have the international air connections of its bigger, Northeastern rival.

7. Honolulu, Hawaii, with 2,563,000 visitors

Honolulu saw a drastic 15% increase in visitors in 2013, as Hawaii continues to exceed expectations. Despite worries in the local tourism industry that Japanese visitors are cooling on Hawaii as a destination, as Asian beach destinations like Koh Samui and Bali start to seriously compete with Hawaii on service and price points, Hawaii is proving that it is a resilient destination.

6. Las Vegas, Nevada, with 2,851,000 visitors

If that number sounds low, it’s because overseas travelers make up just a tiny percentage of total visitors to Las Vegas. The city is incredibly popular with American travelers, who visit by the tens of millions. Its kitschy meets gambling nature doesn’t have quite the same appeal with international visitors, however, as both Europe and Asia have gambling centers of their own.

5. San Francisco, California, with 3,044,000 visitors

The second Californian city to crack the top 10, San Francisco saw an almost 10% increase in visitors in 2013, surpassing the 3 million annual overseas visitors mark. Whether the city can keep up the momentum next year is unknown, but the city has an eternal appeal to overseas visitors, especially Asian travelers who like its beautiful landscape and its compactness.

4. Orlando, Florida, with 3,716,000 visitors

Though Los Angeles saw an 11% increase in visitors, Orlando had a very impressive 17% increase, as 532,000 more visitors traveled to Orlando in 2013 than in 2012. If Orlando can keep it up in 2014, it will surpass Los Angeles as the third most visited city in the United States. Of course, the reason travelers are going to Orlando is no surprise: Disney World and Universal Studios.

3. Los Angeles, California, with 3,781,000 visitors

Los Angeles also saw a huge rise in visitors in 2013, with 11% more visitors than in 2012. Los Angeles benefits from an excellent reputation abroad, the huge popularity of the American film industry and LAX’s excellent air connections to Asia. At the moment 28% of visitors to the United States hail from Asia, and, with the region’s rapid rise in wealth, the number of inbound visitors from the region are sure to increase greatly in the coming years.

2. Miami, Florida, with 4,005,000 visitors

Miami is sometimes called the capital of Latin America, a reflection of Miami’s kaleidoscope of Latin American peoples. The city is also incredibly well connected via air to Latin America and, with 16% of visitors to America hailing from the region, it’s a perennially popular destination. In all, the city received almost 500,000 more visitors in 2013 than 2012, a 15% increase. So it must be doing something right.

1. New York City with 9,579,000 visitors

An astonishing 30% of all foreign visitors to the United States in 2013 visited New York City during their trips. While that percentage is down just a bit from the 2012 numbers, no other city even comes within 5 million visitors of New York. So why is New York so popular? Well, it has a sterling international reputation, a host of iconic landmarks and excellent air connections to Western Europe, a region which accounts for 37% of all visitors to the United States.