Hong Kong, Bangkok leading world destinations in 2015 - Euromonitor

LONDON - Despite falling arrivals, Hong Kong remained the top city destination in the world for the seventh consecutive year in 2015, with 26.7 million international visitors, according to Euromonitor International research. Bangkok overtook London as the world’s second most visited city, with 10% growth in international arrivals.

London moved down to the third spot in the global ranking but remained the top European city destination with international arrivals growing 7% in 2015.

Euromonitor said arrivals continued to grow in global urban centres in 2015, illustrating the continued economic importance of tourism to the world’s largest cities.

Once again, the top cities outperformed global travel flows, with inbound city arrivals to the top 100 cities growing by 5.5% between 2014 and 2015. This compared to global inbound arrivals growing by 4.3% in the same period.
 
The 2015 rankings, released today, show that:
• Japanese cities saw impressive growth, with Tokyo rising eight places to rank 17th, and Osaka and Kyoto entering the top 100, ranking 55 and 89 respectively.
• Tunisia fell on hard times due to multiple terrorist attacks, with Jerba being the only Tunisian city in the ranking, while Mecca in Saudi Arabia was the best performer in the region, seeing strong growth in the number of religious tourists.
• Countries with a comparable offering to Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia, such as Spain, Greece, Portugal and Italy, saw booming international arrivals. Athens especially had another record year with arrivals growing by 22.6% in 2015, despite political and economic turmoil.
• Mexican tourism overall is booming with Cancun remaining immensely popular, despite a decline in visitors due to the Mexican Government promoting other destinations within the country.
• Lima had a strong performance, with growth of 9% in 2015. The city benefitted from the improvement of the Peruvian economy and international recognition of Peru as a travel destination.
Euromonitor International’s Travel Analyst, Wouter Geerts comments, “2015 was another turbulent year. Terrorist attacks, geopolitical conflicts, economic uncertainty and health scares like MERS and Zika were just some of the factors impacting city arrivals. Nevertheless, top cities outperformed global travel flows, registering growth of 5.5 percent in international arrivals compared to 2014, showing the resilience of global cities as travel destinations.”
 
To view the Top 100 Cities Destination ranking, visit: http://go.euromonitor.com/Top-100-Cities-Destinations_Download-Page.html... (ATI).