Top 10 most visited cities in the world
Hong Kong remains the most visited city in the world by some margin, according to Euromonitor International’s Top 100 City Destination Ranking for 2017.
The ranking is based on the number of travellers visiting over the course of a year and sources data directly from national stats offices, airport arrivals and hotel/accommodation stays.
The group only takes into account travellers who treat the cities in question as their primary destination, even if they travel through other cities to reach it.
Hong Kong remains the top city destination, despite falling arrivals. “The close proximity to and rapidly rising disposable incomes in China mean that Hong Kong remains a key destination for Chinese travellers. However, Hong Kong faces increasing difficulties in maintaining its attractiveness, especially amongst younger Chinese travellers, amid rising tensions between Hong Kong residents and the Chinese ruling party,” the report said.
A decade of rapid growth in arrivals from China came to a halt in 2015, with the number of visitors from the country falling by 6%.
Cities in Thailand were well represented on the list, boosted by a more stable political situation, which had suppressed growth in 2014. Bangkok benefited with growth of 10% in international arrivals,jumping to second in the ranking, ahead of Singapore.
Five Thai cities are present in the top 100, including Chiang Mai, which saw the number of arrivals to the city grow by 40% between 2014 and 2015 – albeit from a much smaller base than Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya.
London closed out the top three of the ranking, with international arrivals growing just short of 7% in 2015. Arrivals were boosted by England’s hosting of the Rugby World Cup in September 2015.
However, a decision to leave the EU has led to high levels of uncertainty, casting dark shadows over the UK economy. The depreciation of sterling will constrain the UK outbound market significantly, but is expected to result in a bumper year for London inbound tourism in 2016, Euromonitor said.
It said that 2017 will likely see the triggering of Article 50 (the formal mechanism for leaving the EU), and if a disorderly Brexit follows where the EU and UK do not come to an agreement, Euromonitor International’s macro model points at a recession in 2017 and to potentially 2 million fewer international arrivals to the UK by 2020.
The long-awaited decision by the UK parliament to back the building of a third runway at Heathrow Airport might provide much-needed additional capacity, but this will come too late to compensate for the potential Brexit fallout, teh report said.
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Johannesburg is the only South African city in the top 100 – 37th with 4.87 million arrivals which is up 2.1% from before.
Hong Kong – 26.7 million visitors
Hong Kong
Bangkok – 18.7 million visitors
Bangkok
London – 18.58 million visitors
London
Singapore – 16.86 million visitors
Singapore
Paris – 15.02 million visitors
Paris
Top 10 global cities for travellers:
| # | City | Arrivals (millions) | % increase 2014/15 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hong Kong | 26.7 million | -3.9% |
| 2 | Bangkok | 18.7 million | +10% |
| 3 | London | 18.58 million | +6.8% |
| 4 | Singapore | 18.86million | +0.4% |
| 5 | Paris | 15 million | -0.2% |
| 6 | Macau | 14.3million | -1.8% |
| 7 | Dubai | 14.26 million | +8.0% |
| 8 | Istanbul | 12.4 million | +4.8% |
| 9 | New York | 12.3 million | +0.6% |
| 10 | Kuala Lampur | 12.15 million | +4.5% |
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