Singapore sees third highest tourist spending in Asia Pacific

It dominated Hong Kong, Tokyo.

Singapore sees the third highest tourist spending in all of Asia Pacific, according to Mastercard’s Asia Pacific Destinations Index.

Bangkok clinched the top spot as it recorded US$15.2b in total expenditure, followed by Seoul with US$14.4b, and then by Singapore with $14.1b. Rounding out the top five is Tokyo, which posted US$11.9 in total expenditure, followed by Kuala Lumpur (US$10.5b), Bali (US10.3b), Taipei (US$9.5b), Phuket (US$8b), Hong Kong (US$6.7b) and Sydney (US$6b).

Moreover, Singapore saw the fourth highest expenditure per day with US$255 per day. The list was dominated by Shanghai (US$269 per day), and then by Beijing (US$262 per day) and Seoul (US$258 per day). rounding out the top five was Hong Kong, with US$240 per day.

The most popular destination in the region is Bangkok, as its international overnight visitors reached over 20m. Singapore and Tokyo come second, as both saw 11.8m international overnight visitors. The rest of the top ten comprise Kuala Lumpur (11.3m), Phuket (11.2m), Seoul (9.2m), Hong Kong (8.3m), Pattaya (8.1m), Bali (7.2m) and Osaka (6.5m).

The index also revealed that half of the top ten destinations saw 10% growth or more in international overnight visitor numbers between 2014 and 2015. Osaka led the increase with 54%, followed by Tokyo (53.2%), Bangkok (28.6%), Phuket (15.5%), and Pattaya (10%).