France retained its position as the world’s favorite tourism destination in 2016, the UN’s World Tourism Organization said, defying concerns over terror attacks.

The United States came second followed closely by Spain, according to annual figures that the Madrid-based UNWTO normally announces in January, but which were delayed this year.

The number of tourists visiting the US was also down, falling three percent to 75.61 million, which saw the country narrowly maintain its second position as Spain experienced a 10 percent jump in visitors to 75.56 million.

China came fourth in the ranking with just 60 million visitors and Italy came fifth -- the same as in 2015.