Asian cities dominate top destination index

By Arno Maierbrugger/Gulf Times Correspondent /BangkokBangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Seoul and Hong Kong continue to dominate the annual Global Destinations Cities Index, released by credit card company MasterCard on June 3.Bangkok is predicted to remain the world’s second top city destination this year, and the number one in Asia-Pacific, with 18.24mn visitors expected to spend time in the Thai capital in 2015. London ranked top city of the world with 18.82mn expected visitors, and Paris came third with 16.06mn. The most popular cities in the Middle East/Western Asia remain Dubai and Istanbul, respectively.London and Bangkok have topped the index throughout its five-year history. The list ranks cities by the number of their total international overnight visitor arrivals and the cross-border spending by these visitors in the destination cities, and gives visitor and passenger growth forecasts for 2015. It also analyses “airflows” – traveller movements to the listed cities – to determine travel patterns of visitors and the most important feeder cities for a destination, which is important information for airlines to develop flight schedules. For example, most visitors reach Bangkok from Singapore, Tokyo and Hong Kong, while most travellers to London reach the UK capital from New York, Amsterdam and Frankfurt. In turn, the top feeder cities for Dubai are Doha, London and Kuwait City. London’s contribution as a feeder city to visitor spending in Dubai, however, is the biggest at $1.34bn estimated for 2015, which is about double the size of estimated visitor spending from Doha at $740mn. “This analysis helps us understand just how interconnected the world’s cities are and the significant role they play in connecting and empowering greater numbers of people than ever before,” says Ann Cairns, President of International Markets at MasterCard.The research also lists the most popular city destinations in terms of overnight visitor spending. In this ranking, London, New York, Paris, Seoul and Singapore are the top five, while Bangkok ranks seventh after Barcelona. However, Bangkok has the fastest growth rate in visitor spending at 11.8% from 2014 to 2015, with $12.36bn projected in international visitor expenditure for this year. “This is absolutely great news, which could not come at any better time than now that Thailand is seeing a strong recovery in all tourist markets,” says Juthaporn Rerngronasa, Governor for International Marketing – Europe, Africa, Middle East and Americas at the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).Due to political unrest and other factors related to economic slowdown in major source markets for Thailand, tourism arrivals to the country dropped by 6.7% to 24.77mn in 2014, but recovered strongly – by 23.5% – in the first quarter of 2015. The TAT said it expects to welcome a total of 28mn visitors in 2015, generating an estimated $42bn in proceeds.In the Middle East, the other most popular city destinations are Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, Cairo, Amman, Beirut and Casablanca. Dubai continues to be one of the fastest growing cities in the global top ten destinations.Internationally, the fastest growing city destinations are also Asia-dominated, with Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo, Chengdu, the capital of China’s southwestern Sichuan province, and Abu Dhabi being the fastest growing destination cities by international overnight visitors in terms of annual growth between 2009 and 2015. Following on this list are Osaka, Riyadh, Xi An (capital of Shaanxi province in central China), Taipei, Tokyo, Lima and Ho Chi Minh City.“Tourism is becoming an increasingly important source of income and employment for many Asian countries. This reflects the growing appeal of Asia as it continues to develop, led by the fast emerging Asean economies, China and India,” says Matthew Driver, President Southeast Asia at MasterCard.“As countries compete for tourist receipts and seek to improve the visitor experience, it will be key for governments and tourist authorities to continue investing in smarter city infrastructure while preserving and protecting the heritage that makes their cities unique,” he adds.