Five Asian Cities Make It to Top Destinations in the World

This year's best countries for travel.
by WindowSeat.ph | June 17, 2015

Asia is showing impressive growth in the number of travelers this year!

Mastercard recently released the results of its annual Global Destination Cities Index, which ranks total international overnight visitor arrivals and the visitors’ international overnight spending.

Five Asian cities made it to the list of  top international overnight visitor arrivals: Hong Kong, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Singapore, and Bangkok.

London, which topped last year’s survey, once again made it to the top of both rankings, with 18.82 million projected visitor arrivals and $20.23 billion in international visitor spending.

The top 10 cities by projected visitor arrivals for 2015 are:

1. London – 18.82 million

2. Bangkok – 18.24 million

3. Paris – 16.06 million

4. Dubai, UAE – 14.26 million

5. Istanbul- 12.56 million

6. New York – 12.27 million

7. Singapore – 11.88 million

8. Kuala Lumpur – 11.12 million

9. Seoul – 10.35 million

10. Hong Kong – 8.66 million

The top 10 cities for international overnight visitor spending are:

1. London $20.23 billion
2. New York $17.37 billion
3. Paris $16.61 billion
4. Seoul $15.24 billion
5. Singapore $14.65 billion
6. Barcelona, Spain $13.86 billion
7. Bangkok $12.36 billion
8. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia $12.02 billion
9. Dubai, UAE $11.68 billion
10. Istanbul $9.37 billion

Mastercard also provided data on the fastest-growing tourist cities in the world, another survey dominated by Asian cities. Based on data gathered over the last six years, they are:

1. Colombo, Sri Lanka – 21.1%
2. Chengdu, China – 20.7%
3. Abu Dhabi, UAE – 20.4%
4. Osaka, Japan – 19.8%
5. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – 18.0%
6. Xi An, China – 16.2%
7. Taipei, Taiwan – 14.9%
8. Tokyo – 14.6%
9. Lima, Peru – 13.9%
10. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 12.9%

Did your favorites make it to the list? Share your thoughts in the comments!