For the fifth year in a row, Dubai has retained its position as the top destination in the region and the fourth most visited city in the world.
In the 2019 iteration of the annual Global Destination Cities Index (GDCI) published by Mastercard, Dubai with 15.93 million international overnight visitors came in just behind London and Paris in third and second position respectively having welcomed around 19 million overnight visitors. In top position was Bangkok with 22 million overnight international visitors.
However, when looking at the cities by dollar spent, Dubai tops the list way ahead of its nearest competitors with travelers spending US$553 on average a day. Makkah, new to the top 10 this year came in at second position, with Bangkok rounding out the top three.
“As the most attractive destination in the Middle East and Africa region for international visitors, Dubai connects people from all over the world with a diverse range of offerings for leisure and business travelers alike,” said Girish Nanda, General Manager, UAE & Oman, Mastercard.
“The impressive visitor numbers are set to increase even further next year, as we welcome 192 nations for a once-in-a-lifetime celebration at Expo 2020 Dubai, while enhancing the city’s reputation as a dynamic and diverse global meeting point,” said Sanjiv Khosla, Chief Commercial Officer, Expo 2020 Dubai.
Over the past ten years the world has seen economic ebbs and flows, evolving global competition and partnership, and boundless technological innovation. But, one thing has remained constant: people’s growing desire to travel the world, visit new landscapes and immerse themselves in other cultures.
This year, the GDCI, which ranks 200 cities based on proprietary analysis of publicly available visitor volume and spend data, reveals that Bangkok remains the No. 1 destination, with more than 22 million international overnight visitors. Paris and London, in flipped positions this year, hold the No. 2 and 3 spots, respectively with both hovering around 19 million international overnight visitors. All top ten cities saw more international overnight visitors in 2018 than the prior year, with the exception of London, which decreased nearly 4 percent. The forecast for 2019 indicates across-the-board growth, with Tokyo expecting the largest uptick in visitors.
Notably this year, the Global Destination Cities Index offers a decade of insights to consider, with three key trends standing out.
Consistent & Steady Growth: Over the past decade, the one constant has been continual change. Each year, more people are traveling internationally and spending more in the cities. Between all of the destinations within the Index, arrivals have grown on average 6.5 percent year-over-year since 2009, with expenditure growing on average 7.4 percent.
The Sustained Dominance of Major Cities: While there has been significant movement in visitors to smaller cities, the top 10 has remained largely consistent. London, Paris and Bangkok have been the top 3 since 2010, with Bangkok as No. 1 six of the past seven years. New York is another top 10 stalwart, with 13.6 million overnight visitors this year.
The Rise of Asia-Pacific International Travelers: Cities in the Asia-Pacific region have seen the largest increase in international travelers since 2009, growing 9.4 percent. In comparison, Europe, which saw the second highest growth, was up 5.5 percent. This is spurred on by the growth in mainland Chinese travelers. Since 2009, mainland China has jumped up six places to be the No. 2 origin country for travelers to the 200 included destinations, behind only the U.S.
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