German tourists, more than any other country's residents, like to flash their cash when they travel, says Skyscanner Ltd., of Edinburgh, Scotland, citing World Tourism Organization statistics.

They spend more than $90 billion a year on their travels, a disproportionate amount considering that their country's population of just over 80 million is less than a third of that of the next biggest spenders, Americans, who splash $79.7 billion a year on holiday travel, says Skyscanner, which operates a flight comparison Web site.

Known for tipping big in restaurants and bars, Americans certainly know how to spend, Skyscanner says. With the world economy apparently on the road to recovery, tourism will play a huge part in many countries' income, and competition is high to capture the biggest share of that market, it says.

The top 10 cities in the U.S. favored by international travelers are New York, Orlando, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Miami, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta, Skyscanner says. However, cities that aren't usually regarded as destinations for foreign tourists, such as Phoenix and Portland, also are attracting more international travelers this year—a trend that is expected to increase in coming months, it says.

In third place in the World Trade Organization tourism spending compilation is the United Kingdom, whose residents spend $68.5 billion a year on their getaways. For them, Spain is a popular holiday escape, as supported by recent Skyscanner data showing that the top search in January was flights to the resort and port city of Malaga in southern Spain.

France is the world's most popular country in terms of tourist arrivals, but its residents also love to travel, ranking fourth in the international tourism spending at $42.1 billion a year, while the Chinese spend $36.2 billion annually on their travels.

Following China in the rankings are Italy, at $30.8 billion; Japan, $27.9 billion; Canada, $26.9 billion; Russia, $24.9 billion; and the Netherlands, $21.7 billion.

The tourism spending statistics are from 2008, the latest year for which figures are available.

Barry Smith, Skyscanner co-founder and business director commented:

"It will be very interesting to see how tourist spending changes since the downturn," says Barry Smith, Skyscanner co-founder and business director. "So far, the latest figures show that only the Japanese spent less on international tourism than the previous year. China is fast rising, spending 21 percent more on their global travels, and likely is set to grow even more."

Noting, though, that the Germans remain the world's biggest-spending tourists, he says, "There would have to be significant change for anyone else to catch up with them."

Skyscanner says its statistics show a 130 percent increase in travel searches so far this year, compared with last year's pace, with travelers from the United Kingdom leading the pack, followed by Germany and Italy, with China coming up fast and surpassing Russia.

Skyscanner provides instant online comparison on flight prices for more than 670,000 routes on more than 600 airlines, as well as car hire, hotel, and holiday price comparisons, and is available in 20 different languages.