Charlotte Foster
International Travel

The world’s least visited countries revealed

The world’s least visited countries have been revealed for those who like their holidays to be well and truly off the grid. 

These 10 countries should be on the travel bucket lists of those who prefer to be away from everyone and everything, and who revel in a crowd-free getaway. 

According to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation 2023 report, these ten countries welcome very few tourists for a range of logistic reasons. 

Some of these remote countries are lying in hard-to-reach corners of the globe, while others are just “too small to host vast numbers of tourists”. 

However, they're all worth the effort for a traveller after a certain kind of holiday, as they offer golden beaches, crystal clear waters and blissful isolation. 

The country that came in at number one, as the least visited country in the world, was the country of Tuvalu, which welcomes just 3,700 annual visitors. 

Tuvalu is located 1,000km north of Fiji in the west-central Pacific Ocean, just below the equator. 

The three coral islands and six atolls that make up the country have a total land mass of around 10 square miles, making it the fourth-smallest country in the world. 

Sadly, the future of Tuvalu is uncertain, as the small country is expected to be a victim of climate change, with rising sea levels putting the country and its residents in danger. 

Tuvalu is also tricky to reach, with no direct international flights, and only three flights a week running to the island from Fiji. 

Here is the full top 10 list of the least visited countries in the world. 

10. Guinea-Bissau. Annual visitors: 52,000

9. Comoros. Annual visitors: 45,000

8. São Tomé and Príncipe. Annual visitors: 34,900

7. Solomon Islands. Annual visitors: 29,000

6. Montserrat. Annual visitors: 19,300

5. Micronesia. Annual visitors: 18,000

4. Kiribati. Annual visitors: 12,000

3. Niue. Annual visitors: 10,200

2. Marshall Islands. Annual visitors: 6,100

1. Tuvalu. Annual visitors: 3,700

Image credits: Getty Images / Shutterstock

Tags:
international travel, least, visited, holiday, isolation