MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index 2014

During midyear of each year since 2011, Mastercard Worldwide is bound to publish their report of Top Global Destination Cities index. We got some travel ideas from their Top 20 travel destination cities in the world of 2013 last year, and we can’t wait to see what could have changed this year in 2014.

Spearheaded by MasterCard, this destination cities index lists out the top travel destination cities, after generating estimates of the total number of international visitors to each of the popular 132 cities around the globe each year, their individual cross-border spending in these cities, and breakdown of their numbers by feeder cities. The index is therefore a global map of how these top destination cities are connected and the business potential generated in each of them by the inflows of visitor spending.

If you haven’t got a clue to which city you are planning for your next holidays, check out this list of popular cities where most travelers around the world are falling for.

Here is the ranking of top destinations as listed in MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index 2014, in terms of estimated International Overnight Visitors received in year 2013/14:

1. London ( with 18.69 million estimated international overnight visitors)
2. Bangkok (16.42 million)
3. Paris (15.57 mil)
4. Singapore (12.47 mil)
5. Dubai (11.95 mil)
6. New York (11.81 mil)
7. Istanbul (11.60 mil)
8. Kuala Lumpur (10.81 mil)
9. Hong Kong (8.84 mil)
10. Seoul (8.63 mil)
11. Barcelona (7.37 mil)
12. Amsterdam (7.23 mil)
13. Milan (6.82 mil)
14. Rome (6.79 mil)
15. Taipei (6.29 mil)
16. Shanghai (6.09 mil)
17. Vienna (6.05 mil)
18. Riyadh (5.59 mil)
19. Tokyo (5.38 mil)
20. Lima (5.11 mil)

We can’t see much difference in the above list if compared with the same index last year. All the top 20 cities listed are famous and popular travel destinations as we all know about. Lima of Peru is the only newcomer this year that squeezed out Los Angeles to become the top 20th city.

Due to its political turmoil that still persists, Bangkok has lost nearly 2 Million of visitors this year as well as its unprecedented top city ranking since last year. Thanks to that, London successfully regained the top rank this year with an 8% growth in visitors.

Another notable city is Dubai, which gained 2 places up to 5th from 7th last year. Together with Istanbul and Kuala Lumpur, we saw strong progress of Islamic cities in terms of attractiveness to international visitors.

Overall, developing countries and cities like Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, Taipei and Shanghai, are receiving more visitors each year if compared with traditional destination cities such as Paris, Rome and Singapore.

Of the top 20 cities in the list, I’m considered lucky enough to have visited 13 of them, and Bangkok slipped away in my travel plan due to its persisting political instability.

This list is preferred over the UNWTO’s list of Top 10 countries to visit since we are more concerned about cities over countries when traveling. Off course, since they are so popular, they are normally occupied by tourists more than the local people most of the time. This is something we do not want to see. So exploring off the beaten track to other cities next to them could be another option.

You can read the full article from MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index 2014.  – Travel Feeder

About The Author

Cecil Lee

The author is an avid traveler and photography hobbyist who loves to share with others his travel and photo-taking experience in many popular tourist destinations around Europe, Asia and Australasia. Read the exciting stories with many photos captured on his journeys.