If you are looking for fun and excitement on your next vacation, you may want to consider adding some of these major global tourist destinations to your itinerary. According to a study recently published by the Mastercard Global Destination Cities Index.
Bangkok
Back in 2012 and 2013, Bangkok was in first place on the list, and although Bangkok saw its ranking drop slightly in 2015, in 2016 and 2017, it managed to keep first place with millions of travelers. The city of Bangkok attracts visitors from far and wide with its many culinary specialties and its lively nightlife. The city serves as a starting and stopping point for many travelers to Southeast Asia.
London
London is the UK’s largest city and capital, home to many world-class museums and tourist attractions, including the London Eye, the London Bridge, the British Museum and much more. In its 2017 report, Mastercard says that 19.88 million tourists have visited London. This makes it the most visited tourist attraction in Europe and the second most visited attraction in the world.
Honorable mentions
Paris, Dubai and New York occupy the third, fourth and fifth positions respectively with 18.03 million, 15.27 million and 12.75 million visitors. Dubai has constantly advanced in the ranking since the launch of the MasterCard Global Destination Cities index. The future of Dubai looks bright as it prepares for Expo 2020. The Expo is one of many event opportunities and other key economic drivers that should strengthen its position in the travel world. Future tourists to the city are expected to increase the percentage by 8 compared to last year. When looking at the number of international overnight visitors that destination cities have attracted per resident city, Dubai appears to be the world champion, with 5.7 visitors per capita, an increase of 0.
Istanbul is the eighth most popular city in the world for tourists. International flights to Istanbul are cheaper than those from neighboring cities. Therefore, the city becomes an ideal starting point for trips through Europe, Asia or North Africa. The city itself is a spectacle: an exquisite intersection of the west and the east.
Destination and future cities
According to the study sponsored by MasterCard, the cities of Osaka in Japan, Chengdu in China, Colombo in Sri Lanka and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates are all cities showing promising signs of growth in their sectors of tourism. This is mainly due to the increase in tourist visits from neighboring countries. Certain particular factors can also be cited for the growth of tourism in some of these cities, such as the strengthening of the tourism sector in Sri Lanka through reconstruction after a civil war and the increase in the number of international tourists to China.
The most popular cities in the world to visit
| Rank | City | Visitors |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bangkok | 21.5 |
| 2 | London | 19.9 |
| 3 | Paris | 18.0 |
| 4 | Dubai | 15.3 |
| 5 | New York | 12.8 |
| 6 | Singapore | 12.1 |
| 7 | Kuala Lumpur | 12.0 |
| 8 | Istanbul | 12.0 |
| 9 | Tokyo | 11.7 |
| 10 | Seoul | 10.2 |
| 11 | Hong Kong | 8.4 |
| 12 | Barcelona | 8.2 |
| 13 | Amsterdam | 8.0 |
| 14 | Milan | 7.7 |
| 15 | Taipei | 7.4 |
| 16 | Rome | 7.1 |
| 17 | Osaka | 7.0 |
| 18 | Vienna | 6.7 |
| 19 | Shanghai | 6.1 |
| 20 | Prague | 5.8 |
| 21 | Los Angeles | 5.6 |
| 22 | Madrid | 5.3 |
| 23 | Munich | 5.3 |
| 24 | Miami | 5.2 |
| 25 | Dublin | 5.0 |