Coming up with a list of the ten most visited countries in the world is probably easy enough, but how about the 10 least visited countries in the world? Some on the list are not surprising, but a couple near the top are in Western Europe and may surprise you.
I’ll start with #10 and work my way back. These are not the actual top 10, but my choice of 10 interesting nations near the top of the list.
10. Sierra Leone (74,400 visitors in 2016)
Blame the 2014 Ebola epidemic for Sierra Leone’s lack of visitors. Although there is much natural beauty in this impoverished nation, tourism has never recovered.
9. Liechtenstein (69,000)
This tiny nation-state, nestled between Switzerland and Austria, is the sixth smallest country in the world. The beauty is breathtaking and Lichtenstein is the only country in the world located wholly within the Alps.
8. Timor-Leste (66,000)
Getting here is not easy: it requires flying to Australia or Singapore first. But ask Stefan from Rapid Travel Chai if you need help planning a trip here.
7. San Marino (60,000)
I remember traveling to San Marino in 2011. It’s a small landlocked nation toward the east coast of Italy that has natural beauty and history. The city center dates back to the 13th century.
6. Djibouti (51,000)
Not the safest place to visit at the moment due to the ongoing conflict in Eritrea and Yemen, but the small nation offers a juxtaposition of mountainous desert and water that gives it a unique topography.
5. Comoros (24,000)
This cluster of islands in the Indian Ocean near Madagascar is high on my wish list. There is natural beauty, wildlife and beautiful architecture.
4. Montserrat (9,000)
I visited Montserrat in 2010 and had a fabulous visit. The island was decimated by Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and again in 1995 by an unexpected eruption of the Soufriere Hills volcano. It still has not recovered. But the people are extremely friendly and the beauty is stunning.
3. Sao Tome & Principe (8,000)
This is another place high on my bucket list. Located off the coast Gabon, it features beautiful rainforest and colonial architecture from its Portuguese era.
2. Kiribati (4,000)
Five hours from Hawaii, the closest civilization, this is truly in the middle of nowhere. It was the site of bloody WWII battles and is home to a native people who still live off coconuts, bread, fruit and fish.
1. Tuvalu (1,000)
Look at pictures from Tuvalu and you’d be surprised why more people do not visit. The clear water and sandy beaches are beautiful. But it’s a pain to get to–you must travel via Fiji.
CONCLUSION
I’ve been to only 3/10 on the list but look forward to eventually going to all 10. How many of these ten least visited countries in the world have you been to?
Monserrat is not its own sovereign country. You may want to re-visit the list and recalculate. It is a British Overseas Territory, much like Gibraltar, Saint Helena, etc.
I am counting it separately.
Timor Leste can also be reached with flights from Denpasar (Bali), Indonesia with Sriwijaya Air. That’s what I took to visit Timor Leste for a week.
Not to call you out further, but the Daily Mail article you linked to just randomly chose 10 countries from the source doc, not the 10 least visited. The Daily Mail is notoriously unreliable.
Plenty of countries have no data or preliminary data… http://www.e-unwto.org/doi/pdf/10.18111/9789284419029
Countries that should have made your list, especially if we’re counting Overseas Territories:
American Samoa (20,000)
Niue (8,000)
Solomon Islands (an actual, real country; 22,000)
Marshall Islands (an actual, real country; 10,000)
Micronesia (an actual, real country; 24,000)
Tonga (an actual, real country; 61,000)
Kinda just becomes a boring list of remote Pacific nations if the Daily Mail used real data. Not to mention there isn’t data for war areas like Afghanistan.
Thanks. Noted.
1/10 out of your list. Visited Djibouti around 2005. Because of the huge presence of French and US Military it didn’t seem so bad to me. But then again that was back in 2005.
And 3/6 of the Pacific nations that Ben mentioned.
Tuvalu is a must. I mean how can one live and not visit FUN airport
As long as islands are being discussed, the USA has a number of possessions, which don’t receive any official visitors. They are Wake Island, Midway, Johnston Island, Kingsman’s Reef, Jarvis Island, Howland Island, and Navassa. Although tourists are not officially permitted on those islands, I’m sure that there has been unofficial visitors (i.e. history buffs, who may have brought their private yachts to those islands.
If you’re talking about islands, I’m sure Indonesia beat USA anyday. Not because forbidden for tourists, but simply because some of their island hasn’t been recorded yet. Lol
I flew “NAM Air” in to Dili from DPS. Timor was great, but those NAM Air 737s just don’t look that good, and it’s never a smooth ride above Nusantara.
I’m pretty surprised N Korea and Turkmenistan are not on the list. Been to both and I’m pretty sure they have less tourists than Liechtenstein
Montserrat is a colony not a country.
Yes, I know.