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Oct 10, 2018

Tokyo among 10 most visited cities across the globe - Mastercard index

Tokyo among 10 most visited cities across the globe - Mastercard index photo


Tokyo ranked 8th in a list of global cities as overnight destinations for travelers during 2017 which was topped by Bangkok, London and Paris, according to the Mastercard 2018 Global Destination Cities Index.


The annual index, published by technology company and global payments service Mastercard in September, details Tokyo as seeing 11.93 million international overnight visitors during 2017 up from 11.15 million the previous year, an increase which saw the Japan capital move up one place from 9th to 8th in the ranking. 


Tokyo was one of the few locations in the Global Top 10 Destinations Cities to have changed position from the previous year, with Bangkok, London, Paris, Dubai, Singapore and New York making up the top six cities in the same order as 2016. The capital of South Korea, Seoul, dropped from 7th to 10th as only city in the top 10 to see a dip in annual growth. 


According to the index, Osaka was the second highest ranking Japanese city at No.19 with 8.42 million overnight international visitors in 2017, ahead of the Indonesian island of Bali which rounds out the top 20. 


The creators of the index cited robust infrastructure, business and leisure attractions, and strong local culture as key factors in cities retaining their places in the top 10.


The Mastercard Index also provides a growth forecast for each city in 2018 with Tokyo fairing somewhat lower than many cities in the current top 10 with a forecasted 1.6% growth compared to Istanbul (19.7%), Bangkok (9.6%) and Kuala Lumpur (7.5%), the cities with the highest forecast.  


A separate index gives insights into visitor spending in a given city. Tokyo, at a total of USD 11.91 billion (an average daily spend of $154), again made the top 10 in 2017 ranking 9th. Dubai, with a total of $29.70 billion was the top city for dollars spent.


Mastercard expanded the index, which the technology company says offers important analysis of travel to and within cities, to cover 162 cities across the globe in 2018. The index is part of Mastercard’s efforts to address urban challenges facing cities around the world, as well as helping travelers, for business or leisure, traverse the globe, among other initiatives. 


“International travel is crucial to many urban economies, enriching the lives of both residents and tourists. The bar is rising for cities to innovate to provide both a memorable and authentic experience,” said Miguel Gamiño Jr., executive vice president, global cities for Mastercard. 


“We’re partnering closely with cities around the world to ensure they have insights and technologies to improve how they attract and cater to tourists while preserving what makes them so special in the first place.”


The Mastercard Index of Global Destination Cities uses public data to derive international overnight visitor arrivals and the cross-border spending of these visitors in each of the 162 cities targeted in the index


The index comes after data from the Japan National Tourism Agency revealed an estimated 4.1 percent increase in the number of foreign visitors to Japan in August 2018 from the previous year to over 2.5 million with the largest number of these coming from China.  


The same data also showed that while visitor numbers to Japan were on the increase, the rate of this increase was slowing on the back of disasters caused by earthquakes and heavy rains.  



The Global Top 10 Destination Cities - Mastercard 2018 Global Destination Cities Index



RankCity

Total International

visitors

1Bangkok20:05 mn
2London19:83 mn
3Paris17:44 mn
4Dubai

15:79 mn



5Singapore13:91 mn
6New York11:93 mn
7Kuala Lumpor12:58 mn
8Tokyo11:93 mn
9Istanbul10:70 mn
10Seoul9:54 mn




Which city in Japan would you most like to visit?  Let us know in the comments.




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Further reading ... 


Kyoto’s got the power, comes out No.1 in Japan ‘power city’ survey

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