MasterCard Global Destination City Index is based on air traffic and rates cities around the world in the terms of their popularity for international tourism with at least one overnight stay.
This year, Bangkok tops the list for the third year in a row with Phuket on the 12th place and Pattaya on the 18th, both featured for the first time. In 2018, 162 cities have been analysed – an increase compared to the previous year when 132 cities were examined.
According to the survey, Bangkok welcomed 20 million overnight visitors what allowed the Thai capital to beat London – a close runner-up with 19.8 million overnight guests. The third comes Paris with 17.4 mln tourists who decided to spend at least one night in the city.
Besides Thailand, other Asian destinations in 2018 index include Singapore on the 5th place, Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo, Istanbul, Seoul, Antalya occupying lines from the 7th till 11th; Hong Kong on the 14th line; Osaka on the 19th and Bali closing the ranking with 7.2 million overnight visitors.
Non-Asian cities on the list are already mentiond London and Paris as well as Dubai, New York, Makkah, Milan, Palma de Mallorca and Barcelona.
12 of 20 Global Destination Cities Are in Asia
News in Asia
Three of the popular travel destinations in Thailand have made it up to the Global Top 20 Destination Cities in MasterCard Index 2018 making Thailand the only country with three cities in the ranking.