BANGKOK, May 27 – Bangkok tops the world’s best tourist destination listing, according to the MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index 2013, which was released today.
The latest ranking was chosen from 132 cities worldwide.
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.
Bangkok tops the survey, surpassing top global cities including London, last year’s top tourist destination, Paris, Singapore, and New York respectively.
Almost 16 million tourists have so far entered Bangkok this year, measured from the number of foreign tourists and their expenses at their destination.
The spending value circulated by tourists ranks fourth, following New York, London, and Paris respectively. Travellers spent their money the most in Thailand, the highest among the Asia-Pacific countries, reflecting significant tourism growth in Bangkok.
MasterCard Worldwide’s global economic advisor Dr Yuwa Hedrick-Wong said there were 42 Asian cities this year listed by the survey. This was due to the outstanding characteristic of the Asia-Pacific region where emerging economies exist, while the overall improving global economy helped encourage the higher number of tourists in the region.
Bangkok has high potential to attract travellers, and the strong baht currency has minimal impact on Thailand’s tourism. The baht rise is in tandem with other regional currencies.
Tourist figure in Bangkok this year grew 9.8 per cent, decreasing from 18.7 per cent last year. However, according to the number of travellers, the Thai capital is still ranked the world’s top-five.
