The fine people at Mastercard have completed this year’s report and the verdict is in. Bangkok, comes up the winner for the second year in a row. Mastercard’s 2017 Global Destination Cities takes a look at 132 cities and rank them according to visitor volume and spending. According to the survey, Bangkok is projected to have about 20.2 million international overnight visitors this year.
Although Dubai comes in 4th, with just over 16 million international overnight visitors, it places at the top in visitor spending. It’s 14.9 million international visitors spent a whopping $28.5 billion, with more than 10% growth forecast for 2017.
International overnight arrivals across all 132 destination cities have increased by more than 55% since 2009.
TOP 10 CITIES
1. Bangkok, Thailand — 19.41 million visitors in 2016 (20.19 million forecast for 2017)
2. London, England — 19.06 million visitors in 2016 (20.01 million forecast for 2017)
3. Paris, France — 15.45 million visitors in 2016 (16.13 million forecast for 2017)
4. Dubai, UAE — 14.87 million visitors in 2016 (16.01 million forecast for 2017)
5. Singapore — 13.11 million visitors in 2016 (13.45 million forecast for 2017)
6. New York, USA — 12.70 million visitors in 2016 (12.36 million forecast for 2017)
7. Seoul, South Korea — 12.39 million visitors in 2016 (12.44 million forecast for 2017)
8. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — 11.28 million visitors in 2016 (12.08 million forecast for 2017)
9. Tokyo, Japan — 11.15 million visitors in 2016 (12.51 million forecast for 2017)
10. Istanbul, Turkey — 9.16 million visitors in 2016 (9.24 million forecast for 2017)
Its easy to see why Bangkok is the top visited country of the year. I do believe that some people go their for the excellent exchange rate but I also believe that a good amount of people are taking part in some of the darker sides of the city. However, I also believe that there are a lot of people who visit just experience a Buddhist culture, see a beautiful country, and enjoy some of the best tasting foods on earth. I visited back in 2016 for 28 days and It was honestly one of the greatest countries I’ve ever visited. Some people may not like the noise ‘pollution’ as its commonly referred to but who care about that. There’s the floating markets, the night markets, the food stands, the temples, and the people who all make this city well worth the visit. I’m going back this upcoming June but this time to stay.
Funny that out of the top 10 destinations, only one is located in North America!! I thought there would have been more!! Wonder what that says about North America, and the state of travel here. Seems perhaps some damage has been done in people wanting to visit here, more so the US and fear of landing in this country and expecting a difficult travel experience.