London has come a close second to Bangkok as a top-ranked international travel destination, according to the annual Mastercard Global Destinations Cities Index released today.

The Index is more than a ranking of the 132 top destination cities of today and tomorrow. Based on visitor volume and spend for the 2016 calendar year, the in-depth analysis also provides a forecast for growth in 2017, insight on the fastest growing destination cities, and a deeper understanding of why people travel and how they spend around the world.

The global top 10 destination cities

Forecasts for continued growth in 2017 are also positive, and London is predicated to eclipse Bangkok’s growth (see table below). Travellers from USA and France represented nearly one quarter of visitors to London, with 2.32m and 1.99m visitors respectively.

Bangkok	19.41 million visitors	4.0%
London	19.06 million visitors	5.0%
Paris	15.45 million visitors	4.4%
Dubai	14.87 million visitors	7.7%
Singapore	13.11 million visitors	2.6%
New York	12.70 million visitors	(-2.4%)
Seoul	12.39 million visitors	0.4%
Kuala Lumpur	11.28 million visitors	7.2%
Tokyo	11.15 million visitors	12.2%
Istanbul	9.16 million visitors	0.9%

People spend more on shopping while in London than any other city in the report. It represents 46.7% of visitors’ expenditure. Only Osaka (43.4%) and Tokyo (43.1%) come close.

International visitor spent $16.09 billion in 2016, the highest of all European destinations, and significantly higher than Paris which came in second for expenditure with $12.03 billion.

Their expenditure was broken down as follows:

Shopping: 46.7%
Accommodation: 30.1%
Food and beverages: 16.5%
Local transport: 4.3%
Local services: 1.9%
Miscellaneous: 0.5%

WHAT TO TAKE AWAY FROM THIS ARTICLE:

Based on visitor volume and spend for the 2016 calendar year, the in-depth analysis also provides a forecast for growth in 2017, insight on the fastest growing destination cities, and a deeper understanding of why people travel and how they spend around the world.
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