According to the results of the MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index released yesterday, Asia Pacific has bested itself with five out of the top ten destinations for international travelers hailing from the region, up from four in the previous year.
Bangkok relinquished its top spot from last year to London, but still came in strong in second place, retaining its leading position amongst the Asia Pacific cities despite an 11 percent decline in visitors on account of the political unrest that has plagued Thailand since the latter part of 2013.
Southeast Asian cities also show promising growth rates with Jakarta projected to see growth of 18.8%, followed by Hanoi (15.1%) and Manila (14.3%). Kuala Lumpur, despite a marginally lower projected growth rate of 13.1%, makes it to Asia Pacific’s top ten for international visitors by sheer arrival numbers. The Malaysian capital city also boasts the second highest growth rate in the Global top 20. At US$14.3 billion, Singapore took over Bangkok’s top spot for international visitor spend in Asia Pacific, up 7.6 percent from last year. The city-state’s projected visitor arrivals expenditure per city resident stood at US$2,600, beating out London’s US$2,378 and second only to Dubai.
Dr. Yuwa Hedrick-Wong, global economic advisor to MasterCard said “International visitors and their spending are powerful transformational forces in destination cities from the business, social and cultural perspectives. Since 2009, we’ve seen cross-border travel and associated spending growing at faster rates than real world GDP. This continued growth of travel across borders reflects a continued interest and desire for new cultural experiences from all geographies, including the growing middle class in many emerging markets who now have the purchasing power to pursue these opportunities.”
Now in its fourth year, the MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index provides an overview and ranking of the 132 of the most important global cities.
Noting the prevalence of Southeast Asian markets in the top ten, Matthew Driver, president, South East Asia, MasterCard added, “This Index serves as a gauge for understanding the global economy and travel driven connectivity and capacity across the world. The prominence of the South East Asian cities on the Index demonstrates the importance that trade and tourism plays in these economies, all of whom have clearly benefitted from a deliberate and on-going investment in travel capacity and infrastructure.”
Region by Region Overview:
About the MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index
The MasterCard Index of Global Destination Cities ranks cities in terms of the number of their total international visitor arrivals and the cross-border spending by these same visitors in the destination cities, and gives visitor and passenger growth forecasts for 2014.
Public data are used in deriving the international visitor arrivals and their cross-border spending in each of the 132 destination cities, using custom-made algorithms; paying special attention to eliminate the hub effects for destination cities such as Singapore, Amsterdam and Frankfurt.
This Index and the accompanying reports are not based on MasterCard volumes or transactional data.
Click here to read the full report on the 2014 MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index.
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