Across the globe, there are generally considered to be around 200 different countries, from well-trodden tourist destinations such as Spain and France to a number of much lesser known nations (Tuvalu, anyone? It’s in Polynesia in case you were wondering…).
As international travel has become easier – driven by the advent of cheaper flights, many of us are lucky enough to have ventured to a myriad of European countries and plenty of places beyond, from Japan and Australia to South America.
While the average Brit has visited seven countries, according to one study by electrical retail giant Currys, there’s a growing number of tourists whose biggest passion has become ticking off as many countries as they can in their lifetime – with many setting their sights on the golden number of 100.
Nomad Media, a website dedicated to travellers fixated on seeing as much of the world as possible, has a leaderboard showing those who’ve racked up the most hits.
How many pins on your atlas? Country counts are becoming an increasing source of obsession
Does an airport layover count as a visit to a country? The verdict appears to be a hard no
A ‘master ranking’ even reveals some who’ve managed to set foot in all 193 UN countries, which is apparently the absolute ‘holy grail’ of travel bucket lists.
Last year, 82 people claimed to have achieved the feat, with four who say they’ve done it twice.
What counts as a visit though can be controversial.
A poll by the website in 2022 showed 94 per cent of travellers believe an airport stopover without leaving the premises does not count – while the majority don’t count leaving the airport for a sandwich, either.
Meanwhile, 24 per cent said a railway stopover does count – and getting off a cruise ship is required in order to count as a visit.
Cassie de Pecol, who has two Guinness World Records for the fastest time to visit all sovereign countries, told Conde Nast Traveller that often those attempting to put as many pins in the atlas as possible are travel influencers, who need a USP.
She explained: ‘In today’s day and age – where the more followers you have, the more branding deals and thus, the more financial security – there’s a real fight for survival within the travel community to be the most interesting traveller.’
Others though, have very different motivations.
Neil Hughes, a Welshman who lives in Essex, is not your typical travel blogger – the 61-year-old retiree runs his Do Not Go Gently Travel Blog, paying homage to his late wife.
Welshman Neil Hughes, 61, who lives in Kent, lost his wife Carol 18 months ago and says she urged him to keep enjoying travelling. He told the Daily Mail: ‘I’m hellbent on fulfilling my promise to her, one country at a time’
Neil says he’s now firmly on the competitive travel bandwagon (Pictured on a recent trip to Japan)
Neil meeting sumo wrestlers in Tokyo – he says he’s become obsessed with adding more countries to his list
He lost his wife Carol to cancer 18 months ago. When she was diagnosed, she asked Neil what he was going to do when she was gone – and ‘sitting at home drinking wine wasn’t the right answer’, he says.
Travel had always been important to the pair – and since he lost his wife, ‘it’s become an obsession’, he says: ‘I’m hellbent on fulfilling my promise to her, one country at a time.’
At the time of her funeral in April 2025, he had visited 49 countries, many following the Wales and England rugby teams – and just over a year later, that number is already up to 58.
Neil, speaking to the Daily Mail from Argentina, where he has just landed for a two-month trip where he will also visit Chile and Easter Island, said: ‘I’m insanely competitive anyway, and ticking off countries is a way of keeping score.
Neil says he wants to hit 60 countries by 2027. He’s keen to show that you don’t have to be a gap year student to enjoy travelling
‘I wanted to make sure I hit 60 countries this year, so I chose Tanzania for my next trip. The way I do it with business class flights, I look for where the deals are cheap – 60 countries are great, but there’s 200 of them, so I’ve still got a long way to go.
‘I did Japan at the start of the year, three weeks travelling on my own, and three weeks on a wildlife track. I went to Hiroshima, and Kyoto, Okinawa, and Hokkaido.’
One of his highlights was Mongolia, and he has Bhutan and Nepal on his bucket list too.
Instead of a gap-year style trip, Neil likes to travel for around two months at a time, with a one-month break in between.
He says he loves a real local ambience – citing, for instance, Jardine in Colombia: ‘I was sitting in this beautiful square, colonial buildings, everything pastel colours. The entire town was sat out in the square having coffee, having drinks, cowboys and horses walking around.’
Neil says: ‘Ticking off the number of countries, that is very much my thing. A lot of people ask, how long are you going to be doing this for, then?
‘The basic answer is until I don’t want to, or until I can’t. And even then, you know, I might segue to a different style of travel. I might not be climbing volcanoes, I might be doing cruise ships.
‘Cruise ships don’t do it for me [right now]. Because if I want to tick off the numbers, I want to actually see a place too.’
Notching them up! Ashleigh Lawrence, who lives on Australia’s Gold Coast, told the Daily Mail she’s currently on 83
Ashleigh Lawrence, 37, who is British-Australian and lives on the Gold Coast, is another such traveller.
The World Poker Tour presenter, who came second on the Amazing Race Australia globe-trotting TV show and is on Instagram as @ashi_9, is currently on 83 countries – and counting.
‘When I actually started this, I wanted to do 30 countries before I turned 30,’ Ashleigh tells the Daily Mail.
‘And then I hit that and thought, okay, I need to get to 50 before I turn 30. It’s just continued on from there. Now I don’t even do it consciously. I just think, “oh, it’s time to go on holiday. Where am I going next?”‘
Highlights of her travels include Vietnam – with ‘amazing’ food, ‘lovely’ people, great prices and diverse scenery – as well as Japan, Colombia and Mexico. She has her sights set on visiting Palau and the Rock Islands in Oceania too.
So what has inspired the intrepid explorer?
Ashleigh, 37, is British-Australian and has visited a total of 83 countries (pictured in Kazakhstan, her 50th country)
‘I think it was just a good excuse at the time to go travelling, because I love it – and once I hit 30, I thought I had better keep going.
‘I spent six months travelling around Central and South America, and in that time I ticked off a whole bunch more places that I hadn’t been to.’
The serial tourist says she went through one phase of really trying to tick places off, especially in Europe, saying: ‘It was a really cool way to see new places and experience places I probably wouldn’t have gone to.’
Ashleigh explains: ‘I’m definitely competitive, and I would love to visit every single country. That’s the dream. I’m a way off that, but I’m on my way. In my head, my next goal is 100 countries.’
Another way she covers more ground is by combining trips: ‘If I’m going back to somewhere that I’ve already been that I love, I’ll try and tack on another trip, to go and see a new place at the same time.’
When visiting Taiwan again, for example, she added a trip to Japan – and she also combined trips to India and Sri Lanka.
But at the end of the day, she explains: ‘I definitely favour experiences over just ticking somewhere off (although the more places and fun experiences I can have, the better!).’
The presenter loves to combine trips, for instance Sri Lanka (pictured) with India
Guatemala was one standout trip for the intrepid traveller
Alex Andreichuk, CEO of Altezza Travel, shared his take on the trend
Why have modern travellers become so addicted to turning travel into a game?
Alex Andreichuk, CEO at Altezza Travel, told the Daily Mail: ‘People love gamifying everything, and country counting is no exception. The moment someone shares the number of countries they’ve visited, you’re almost compelled to compare.
‘That’s when many people get hooked and begin viewing countries as a checklist to complete. The higher the number grows, the more it becomes a badge of honour and the stronger the desire to “win the game”.’
Dr Tracy King, a private practice clinical psychologist, echoed this, explaining the motivation for many travellers: ‘Although some might think that counting countries is just a way to brag, it is actually a lot more than that. It changes their lives in ways that aren’t related to travel because it lets them say, “I really lived, I’ve seen things and been places”.
‘It’s not that different from the collecting we did as kids. Pokémon cards, erasers, stickers, shells, soccer cards, badges, stamps. The object was never just the object. It was the thrill of finding it, of trading it, of owning it, of completing a set, of showing somebody, and of feeling that tiny bit of pride.’
But for many, Alex adds, ‘there is no winning this game’.
He said: ‘Somewhere along the way, people forget that it’s the experiences that matter, not an imaginary country checklist. Most countries are large enough that you couldn’t fully experience them in a single trip.
‘Yet country counting encourages people to squeeze as many destinations as possible into one itinerary. That’s when quantity replaces quality.
‘On the map, visiting neighbouring countries looks perfectly reasonable. Why not visit Switzerland if you’re already in northern Italy? But the amount of time you spend on the road rarely justifies the added value of that decision. The end result is more time in transit and less time actually experiencing the destination. That’s how fast tourism is born.
‘You become a passerby who gets to say you’ve been there but has little idea what the place is really about.
‘How does it feel? What does everyday local life actually look like? In authentic travel, you should be able to answer these questions. If you can’t, you’ve become a victim of fast tourism.’
Tracy concludes: ‘I think it is important to remind people that just because they have visited 80 countries they may not be more interesting than someone who has visited five but has really connected with those five places.
‘For me, the useful question is: am I counting this country as I think of the next one or am I actually truly being present where I am?
‘If the number adds fun, drive and a sense of adventure, that’s great. But if the number becomes the whole point, it may be worth slowing down and asking what you really need from your next trip.’
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