Bangkok ranked world’s top tourist destination

Tourists walk in the Temple of the Emerald Buddha in Bangkok, Thailand, April 18, 2010. Thai hotel occupancy has been brought down as many of the overseas tourists give up their holiday plans in the country amid mounting tensions between the government and red-shirted protestors. <Xinhua/Huang Xiaoyong>

Bangkok has emerged as the world’s top tourist destination, with 15.98 million visitors projected to visit the Thailand’s capital city this year, according to the 2013 Global Destination Cities Index released by MasterCard on May 27.

Bangkok surpassed London for the first time for the most popular destination city in the world. The index ranks cities in terms of the number of their total international visitor arrivals and the cross-border spending by those visitors in the destination cities.

A noticeable trend in this year’s report was the dominance of the Asia/Pacific region. Of the 132 cities ranked, 42 are Asian countries. Bangkok is followed by Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Seoul, Shanghai, Tokyo, and five of the top 10 in 2013 are in the Greater China region.

“With the rise of the Asia/Pacific region, this year’s index reflects the rebalance that the globe is undergoing in large part because of the rise of emerging markets,” said Ann Cairns, President of International Markets, MasterCard.

“This shift is further underscored by electronic payments, which are enabling more people from more places to participate in the global economy than ever before,” she added.

This year’s report marked the first time any Asian city has been projected to be the top-ranked tourist destination. London came in second, with 15.96 million visitors expected in 2013, and Paris, third, with 13.92 million visitors.

Other Asian cities that made it to the Top-20 Global Destination Cities in 2013 include Singapore at number four, with 11.75 million visitors; Kuala Lumpur at number eight, with 9.2 million visitors; Hong Kong at number nine, with 8.72 million visitors; Seoul at number 11, with 8.19 million visitors; Shanghai at number 14, with 6.5 million visitors, Tokyo at number 16, with 5.8 million visitors, and Taipei, with 5.19 million visitors.

The study found that Bangkok is experiencing a large increase in its number of tourists in 2013, up 9.8% from 2009. That compares to New York’s increase at 5.0% and London’s at 3.8%. Paris, meanwhile, saw a small dip in its number of tourists (negative 0.7%). It looked at the highest international visitor numbers in 2013, with London, Paris, Singapore, and New York rounding out the top five.

This is the third year MasterCard has conducted the study, and all but one of the top 20 destination cities saw a growth in the estimated number of international visitors.

In terms of visitor spending, Bangkok is projected to bring in a total of US$14.3 billion dollars and is ranked at fourth this year, while New York continues to be the top city, where visitors will spend around $18.6 billion dollars in 2013.

Tourism Authority of Thailand(TAT) cited official data in saying that each foreign visitor spends an average of 9.6 days and about US$141.50 in the country. Looking at the past five years, TAT predicted that Asia will likely continue to see a boost in the number of tourists. Not only will more international visitors visit the region, but more Asians will be traveling to cities beyond their own countries.