The people of the world love a landmark, and certain special places – whether natural or man-made – have become the world’s most lucractive tourist attractions. Here is the top ten, plus the world’s most lucrative theme parks too.
Whether you’re travelling to a city in your home country or setting off on a trip abroad, you no doubt have visits to a few famous places included in your itinerary. Landmarks and attractions often become synonymous with the culture and history of the city or country they are in, providing a point of focus for domestic and international tourism.
They also bring in tonnes of cash. At Smart Currency Exchange, we wondered which of the world’s attractions made the most money. So, we put together a list of 10 of the most popular landmarks, theme parks and points of interest, in terms of annual visitors. Then, we found out the cost of one adult ticket or unit of similar value and used that to work out an estimated value for each attraction.
See the results, and a run-down of the top ten, below.
Note: Many sites and attractions that receive millions of visitors are free to visit – such as the British Museum, National Gallery, the Pentagon and Central Park. These no doubt bring plenty of money into their local economies, but it’s difficult to compare them to the likes of The Louvre and the Empire State Building, which have entry fees and costs that bring money directly to the attraction itself. So, although lucrative, they weren’t classed as attractions for the purposes of this study. We also excluded theme parks, which are more like resorts than individual attractions. They are listed separately below.
1. Niagara Falls, The US/Canadian Border
Niagara Falls is a natural site made up of three huge waterfalls, the largest and most powerful in the whole of North America. It’s estimated that Niagara Falls attracts 22.5 million visitors a year, by far the highest number on this list, which is no doubt the reason why it is the most lucrative attraction.
The most lucrative attraction? Niagara Falls (iPIX Stock / Shutterstock)
If every visitor bought a ticket to board the Maid of the Mist at $30.25, the famous tour boat that allows you to get drenched by the falls, the attraction would generate over $680 million a year. But you also have to stay in nearby, so considering the amount of money that tourism to Niagara Falls brings to both the American and Canadian economies, the site surely has earned its place at the top of our list.
- Read our guide to buying property in the USA
- Read our guide to buying property in Canada
2. Burj Khalifa, Dubai, UAE
The Burj Khalifa towers over downtown Dubai (Rasto SK / Shutterstock.com)
Completed in 2010, the Burj Khalifa is still the world’s tallest structure. It measures a whopping 829.8 metres and is comprised of 163 floors, including a luxury hotel, apartments, offices and the highest restaurant in the world.
The building’s main observatory is on the 124th floor which costs AED159 (£31) to access. But if your vertigo can stand it, there is another observatory on the 148th floor which costs AED449 (£89). There are also plenty of VIP packages to consider purchasing. How many people visit? Some 17 million officially, but around 6.2 million people actually go up to the observation deck per year , it’s safe to say the Burj Khalifa is a very high-level attraction indeed.
- Read our guide to buying property in Dubai
3. Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia
Is there a building in the world as instantly recognisable as Sydney Opera House? It has become as much of a symbol for its city as Big Ben has for London, the Statue of Liberty has for New York, and even the Eiffel Tower has for Paris. People don’t just gaze at it Instagram it, some 11 million go to the site each year and 1.5 attend an event.
You can’t enter the opera house unless you are at an event (premium seats can go for A$400, or £200) or pay for a guided tour or which would set you back A$50 (£25). Assuming half paid for an average ticket price and half for a tour, the Opera house would make £85 million a year. But that’s not taking into consideration the amount of tourism this iconic building has generated for Australia since opening in 1973 (or the price of an ice cream at the interval).
- Read our guide to buying property in Australia
4. The London Eye
The London Eye is one of the highest-earning paid attractions worldwide, with estimated annual revenue of around £170 million. That’s based on visitor numbers of around 3.75 million, each paying around £45. (In case you’re wondering, the Eiffel Tower in Paris gets more visitors, in fact almost double, but tickets prices are closer to €15 each on average).
5. The Louvre, Paris, France
The Louvre is the best-attended art museum in the world, and the second largest, recognisable by its distinctive glass pyramid and underground lobby. The Louvre welcomes up to ten million visitors a year to view some of the most famous and expensive paintings and sculptures known to man, including the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo.
Good news for some, they have just abolished some prices for EU citizens and increased ticket prices for non-EU visitors. An adult ticket costs them €32 online (£28). Last year ticket revenue for the museum was around €125 million. That’s a lot of Mona Lisa merch.
- Read our guide to buying property in France
6. The Empire State Building, New York City, USA
The Empire State Building charges from $84 for an 86th floor observatory pass. From here, you can see the bulk of New York’s most famous landmarks, including Central Park, Times Square and the Statue of Liberty. You can even see six distinct US states from the tower on a clear day: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Delaware.
But the Empire State Building is an iconic landmark in its own right. Built in 1930 with a distinctive Art Deco design, the skyscraper attracts four million domestic and international visitors per year. So that’s $336,000,000 (excluding postcards and little models of the building your standing in). The One World Trade Center Observatory opened in 2025. It is a lot cheaper (from $44) and gets slightly fewer visitors.
- Read our guide to buying property in the USA
7. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, USA
The second art museum making our list of world’s most lucractive tourist attractions is the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Met is the largest gallery in America and attracts around five million visitors a year, both domestic and international. Inside, you’ll find paintings, sculptures, and other artworks dating from Ancient Egypt to the present day, including works by Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Picasso and Matisse.
General admission tickets cost a pricy $30 (£22), but you can get into the Met for free if you live or study in New York.
- Read our guide to buying property in the USA
8. Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain
Nearly finished… Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia
It’s nearly finished! The Sagrada Familia is one of the most unique and recognisable churches in the world, designed by idiosyncratic Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi. This may be a holy place, but it’s also one of the world’s most lucractive tourist attractions. Construction started on the intricate cathedral in the 1880s, but due to Gaudi’s self-imposed funding rules it will only be finished in the 2020s.
Despite this, five million people visit the Sagrada Familia every year, and it holds mass on Sundays and Holy days. Although a self-guided tour will set you back between €68 and €82, ta private tour will be €416. Good news, the money raised by tickets and tourism contributes towards the construction costs.
- Read our guide to buying property in the Spain
9. The Colosseum, Rome, Italy
Once the site of gladiator contests and other forms of gory entertainment, Rome’s Colosseum is now the most profitable tourist site in Italy. Despite being built over 2,000 years ago, much of the ancient amphitheatre is still standing and you (like 12 million others) can pay from €18 to visit it, or €42 with a guided tour.
Included in that ticket price, you’ll also receive access to the nearby Roman Forum and Palatine Hill, so you can get a complete experience and learn all about the city of Rome’s ancient history.
We’re sure that the many people who dies here would be thrilled to be associated with one of the most world’s lucractive tourist attraction. But if the thought of all that death and mayhem leaves you in need of something more uplifting, you can pay about €115 to visit the Sistine Chapel, St Peter’s Basilica straight afterwards.
- Read our guide to buying property in Italy
10. Great Wall of China
There are some big numbers here. The Great Wall of China has parts that go back 2,700 years, although most is from the Ming dynasty of about 400 years ago. Its total length is 22,000 kilometres (13,000 miles).
Some 10 to 20 million visitors come every year, particularly to the Badaling section. The average adult ticket price is 50 yuan (£5), but you can also pay for cable cars and even taboggans. Together, this is such a lucractive tourist attraction you can see the pile of money from space.
- Read our guide to buying property in the USA
Bonus: The most lucrative theme parks
Disneyland
Why “value” doesn’t always mean reported revenue
When ranking the world’s most lucrative theme parks, it’s important to note that individual park revenue figures are rarely published in isolation. Major operators such as Disney and Universal typically report earnings at a group or regional level, rather than breaking them down by attraction.
As a result, annual visitor numbers are widely used as a proxy for economic value. Higher attendance generally correlates with greater income from ticket sales, food and beverage, merchandise, hotels and premium experiences, making attendance a reliable indicator of an attraction’s overall commercial impact.
You can have a good estimate of costs using the Disney World Cost Calculator. For a couple and two children, for two days at the Park without accommodation, the average spend was $2,100 in total. So you can probably estimate an average spend of £365 per person.
| Theme Park | Estimated Annual Visitors | Estimated Annual Revenue (£) |
|---|---|---|
| Magic Kingdom (Walt Disney World Resort), Florida, USA | 17,800,000 | £6,497,000,000 |
| Disneyland Park (Disneyland Resort), California, USA | 17,300,000 | £6,314,500,000 |
| Universal Studios Japan, Osaka, Japan | 16,000,000 | £5,840,000,000 |
| Tokyo Disneyland (Tokyo Disney Resort), Japan | 15,100,000 | £5,511,500,000 |
| Shanghai Disneyland, China | 14,000,000 | £5,110,000,000 |
| Tokyo DisneySea (Tokyo Disney Resort), Japan | 12,400,000 | £4,526,000,000 |
| EPCOT (Walt Disney World Resort), Florida, USA | 12,000,000 | £4,380,000,000 |
| Disney’s Hollywood Studios (Walt Disney World Resort), Florida, USA | 10,300,000 | £3,759,500,000 |
| Disneyland Paris (Disneyland Park), France | 10,300,000 | £3,759,500,000 |
| Disney California Adventure (Disneyland Resort), California, USA | 10,000,000 | £3,650,000,000 |
| Universal Islands of Adventure (Universal Orlando Resort), Florida, USA | 10,000,000 | £3,650,000,000 |
| Universal Studios Florida (Universal Orlando Resort), Florida, USA | 9,700,000 | £3,540,500,000 |
| Universal Studios Hollywood, California, USA | 9,600,000 | £3,504,000,000 |
At Smart Currency Exchange, we provide a variety of products and services to help you make payments overseas. We also publish regular articles so that you’re kept up to date with the latest news. What’s more, we have free, downloadable, in-depth guides, such as our currency forecast, which highlights what will affect the pound in this quarter, help you understand the risk of currency, and allow you to safeguard your money completely. So, why not take a look?
