Asian cities amongst most visited in the world: study

Bangkok topped the list with 20.05 million international tourists in 2017.

Asian cities landed to the top spots of the Mastercard Global Destination Cities Index with Bangkok clinching the top spot by having recorded 20.05 million international tourist arrivals in 2017.

Meanwhile, Dubai and Singapore landed at fourth and fifth spots, with international overnight visitors recorded at 15.79 million and 13.91 million, respectively. Visitors in Dubai stayed for 3.5 nights spent US$537 a day on average whilst those who went to Singapore stayed for around 4.3 nights and spent $286 a day on average.

Also included in the list are Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo, and Seoul which landed at seventh, eighth, and tenth spots, respectively. Tourist arrivals for the cities were recorded at 12.58 million, 11.93 million, and 9.54 million, respectively.

The healthy YoY growth in visitor arrivals and the highest overall tourist expenditure in Asia demonstrates the strong partnerships between government and businesses in attracting travellers from all around the world, and in turn, powering up the sector’s role in the local economy.” Mastercard Singapore country manager Deborah Heng said.

In terms of dollars spent, Singapore saw the highest tourist spending amongst Asian cities as visitors spent over US$17.02b in the city-state. Bangkok, Tokyo, and Phuket were also on the list as tourist spendings hit US$16.36b, US$11.91b, and US$10.46b in the said cities, respectively.

The study also found that visitors bound for Bali spent the most of their expenditures on accommodation (44.6%) and the least on shopping (13.4%).

Visitors spent the most on food when visiting Hong Kong (22.2%) and Osaka (22.4%) spent whilst visitors to Singapore spent the least on dining (12.9%).
In terms of shopping, the study found that people spent the most when visiting Osaka (43.4%), Tokyo (43.1%), and Seoul (47.4%).

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