Bangkok named most popular city for international tourists in 2017

For the second year in a row, Bangkok is ready to be the world’s top tourism destination, according to Forbes.com.

The Thai capital is predicted to host nearly 20.2 million international tourists in 2017, according to Mastercard’s annual list of most-travelled to cities. Released to coincide with World Tourism Day, the 2017 Global Destination Cities Index looks at visitor volume and spend at the largest 132 cities in the world.

Bangkok was named a top tourism destination by Mastercard’s annual travel index in honour of World Tourism Day.

Trailing the Asian metropolis is London, which took the second spot last year as well. Clocking in at third is Paris, followed by Dubai, Singapore and New York.

For some cities, the boost from tourism dollars is a boon to business. For example, Dubai boasted a whopping $28.5 billion in international visitor spend for 2016.  New York, the next highest, had only $17 billion in tourism spending for the same year.

“Infrastructure, accommodation, air connectivity, access and policy enablers continue to be the facilitating levers that ensure Dubai remains price competitive and hugely attractive for a broad range of global travellers,” said his Excellency Helal Saeed Almarri, the Director General of Dubai Tourism. “By consistently outpacing the global forecast for visitors, we remain extremely confident about the future outlook for Dubai, especially considering the global headwinds we have faced in last year, as we remain in the top four most visited cities in the world.

While some cities like Shanghai boast half of their travellers related to business, some of these destinations are strictly fun. Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur has a staggering 92.2 percent of visitors there on vacation.

The Top 10 Destination Cities in the World according to Forbes: 

1. Bangkok, Thailand –19.41 million visitors in 2016
2. London, England –19.06 million visitors in 2016
3. Paris, France – 15.45 million visitors in 2016
4. Dubai, United Arab Emirates –14.87 million visitors in 2016
5. Singapore –13.11 million visitors in 2016
6. New York, United States of America – 12.70 million visitors in 2016
7. Seoul, South Korea – 12.39 million visitors in 2016
8. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia –11.28 million visitors in 2016
9. Tokyo, Japan – 11.15 million visitors in 2016
10. Istanbul, Turkey –9.16 million visitors in 2016