the table below shows stastistics about the top five countries for international tourism in 2012 and 2013.

The table compares the top five countries in terms of the

number

of

tourists

and the money spent by the

tourists

between the years 2012 and 2013.

It is clear that

France was the most popular destination in

this

period of two years. Though France had the highest

number

of

tourists

, the USA had the highest figure for tourist spending over the same period. In 2012, 83

million

tourists

visited France, and the USA was the runner-up, whose

number

of

tourists

was sitting at 66.7

million

. Spain and China both received just under 58

million

visitors,

while

Italy had been visited by 46.4

million

people. One interesting fact is that in 2013,

while

other countries’ numbers of visitors saw an increase, ranging from 1 to 4

million

people, China was an exception, in which the figure decreased by 2

million

. Spending by

tourists

visiting the USA rose from $126.2

billion

in 2012 to $139.6

billion

in 2013, and these figures were over twice as high as those for other countries. Spain received the second-highest amount of revenue that came from international

tourists

, earning $56.3

billion

in 2012 and $60.4

billion

in 2013. The other three countries saw increases in spending as well, spanning from 1 to 2

billion

dollars. Interestingly enough, in spite of the fact that China saw a declining

number

in the

number

of

tourists

, the money earned increased by 1.7

billion

dollars.