OP, you're looking at the wrong statistics, especially since Starwood is mostly higher end (ie more expensive properties). It doesn't matter how many guests come but how much they are paying for their hotels.

While France has the most visitors at 83 million, tourism receipts are only 53.7 billion putting them at #3.
Compare that to Spain who has only 57.7 million visitors but they spend 55.9 billion putting them at #2.

Why would you invest in a market where the spending per person is so low if you mainly sell luxury properties. Especially when it's a low growth market compared to many others.