Every country is beautiful in its own manner and is really worth visiting, but there are some countries that attract much more tourists than others.
There is the list of the 5 of the most visited countries of the last several years:

1) France (76.7 million visitors a year)

2) Spain (51.7 million visitors)

3) U.S. (41.9 million visitors)

4) Italy (39.8 million visitors)

5) China (36.8 million visitors)

This is the data of 1998:

1) France (70 million visitors)

2) Spain (47,7 million visitors)

3) United States (47 million visitors)

4) Italy (34,8 million visitors)

5) United Kingdom (25,4 million visitors)

The top 4 has remained the same since the end of the last century, but fast developing and becoming more and more popular China replaced the United Kingdom on the fifth place. You can also see that china is going to overcome Italy in amount of tourists. You can also see that the total amount of tourists has increased – people became to travel more.

So, the most popular country with a big odds given is France. Without any doubt the most famous and popular city in France is Paris. It receives a huge amount of visitors any season. In summer the whole Cote d’Azur with Nice and Cannes becomes the most fashionable and prestigious beach resort.
Spain, mostly visited in summer is also very popular beach destination with its resorts of Costa Brave, Costa Dorada, Costa del Sol. Spanish islands – Canaries and Balearics also attract millions. Barcelona and Madrid are on the top of the list of the most visited Spanish cities.

United States have the third place with the significant number of tourists, but mostly they are Americans. New York is the most visited by tourists city and Florida and California are known for their beach resorts.
Italy, full of ancient attractions and sea resorts is also among the leaders. Rome, Milan, Venice, Florence – everybody knows these symbols of Italian bloom and the tourist stream never exhausts.

Among other popular travel destinations we can name Thailand, although after tsunami it suffered a lot of problems. Now it begins to rise again. According to some questionings it is named the best place for swimming and beach rest.

These are the destinations popular worldwide. However every country has its own favorites. For example, it’s known that Americans prefer to spend their holidays in Mexico, many French like to visit Martinique and so on.
In conclusion I can say that nothing threatens France’s leadership in the list of the most popular countries but people open new, exotic destinations which popularity is growing up.