According to global market research company Euromonitor International’s “Top 100 City Destinations in 2018” report, which ranks cities based on international tourist arrivals, six of the 10 most visited cities this year are in Asia.
While global inbound arrivals are expected to grow by five percent to 1.4 billion trips in 2018, in this year’s ranking, Asia continues its rise. In fact, the region accounts for 41 out of the top 100 cities, a number that has steadily risen from 37 in 2012.
With nearly 29 million tourist arrivals in 2018, Hong Kong has come out on top as the world’s most popular city. This is followed closely by the Thai capital city of Bangkok, which received 23.6 million tourists.
Macau, the Chinese epicenter of gambling and glitz saw a whopping total of 18.9 million tourist arrivals while Singapore, the fourth largest financial center in the world and the top logistics hub, welcomed 18.5 million tourists.
Japan and India, on the other hand, achieved strong numbers in inbound city arrivals growth. Cities such as Osaka and Chiba have shown an average annual growth of 43 percent and 35 percent respectively, between 2012 and 2017.
Indian cities Delhi and Mumbai average over 20 percent annual growth as well and Mumbai is expected to enter the Asian top 10 in 2019.
Euromonitor International’s “Top 100 City Destinations in 2018” report further mentioned that the four cities to watch in the coming year are Porto in Portugal, Osaka in Japan, Jerusalem in the Middle East, and Mumbai in India.
Euromonitor International’s city arrivals research covers over 600 cities, highlighting the top 100 cities based on international arrivals.
International arrivals by city includes visitors from abroad who arrive at the city under review as their first point of entry and also includes those visitors to the city who arrived in the country via a different point of entry but then go on to visit the city in question during the trip.
Arrivals are defined as international tourists, i.e. any person visiting another country for at least 24 hours, for a period not exceeding 12 months, and staying in paid or unpaid, collective or private accommodation.
Each arrival is counted separately and includes people travelling more than once a year and people visiting several cities during one trip. Arrivals encompass all purposes of visit, such as business, leisure and visiting friends and relatives.
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