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ASIA PACIFIC The top 20 global cities by international visitors and visitor expenditure each feature eight Asia Pacific cities, according to the second instalment of the MasterCard Index of Global Destination Cities. By analysing the two factors, MasterCard sheds light on the quantity and quality of international traffic to 132 global cities, with many Asia Pacific destinations among the biggest and the fastest-growing on both counts.
Bangkok, Singapore, Hong Kong, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai, Taipei and Tokyo are among the top 20 global cities by international visitors. For international visitor expenditure – which excludes international flights and is derived from UN travel spend statistics – Kuala Lumpur and Shanghai are replaced by Sydney and Melbourne.
The study’s author MasterCard Worldwide Global Economic Advisor Dr Yuwa Hedrick-Wong explained that the big visitor expenditures of Sydney and Melbourne, compared to their relatively low number of international visitors, highlighted their success in attracting high-quality, big-spending international visitors. The same applies to Miami and Los Angeles, which feature in the top twenty for visitor expenditure but not for visitor numbers.
In terms of growth in visitor numbers, six out of the top 20 fastest growing cities in 2011 were from Asia Pacific, with Tokyo second globally behind Rio de Janeiro (+28.6%) with a +21.5% growth in visitor arrivals. Taipei and Beijing also featured in both the top ten growth cities by visitor arrivals and cross-border spending.
The Index projects sustained growth among emerging market cities with the top ten Asia/Pacific destinations expecting a 9.5% growth in visitor arrivals for 2012 and a 15.3% surge in cross-border spending.
MasterCard Worldwide Global Economic Advisor Dr Yuwa Hedrick-Wong summarises the key findings of the Index. |
“Asia’s destination cities continue their rise, expecting a significant upward trend in visitor arrivals and cross-border spend-most of them on the back of large double digit growth,” said Hedrick-Wong. “The leading Asian cities are some of the most sought after destinations for visitors from all over the world, and the Index indicates that they will continue to thrive into 2012.”
London once again topped the world’s cities by visitor numbers, with 16.9 million inbound passengers expected in 2012, ahead of Paris in second place with 16 million inbound passengers expected. London also ranked first on cross-border expenditure, with US$21.1 billion expected this year. New York, in second place, is set to welcome US$19.4 billion in international visitor spend in 2012.
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