Bangkok Most Visited Destination for Travelers, According to Mastercard List

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By John Harrington Updated Published
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Bangkok Most Visited Destination for Travelers, According to Mastercard List

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Bangkok was the most visited destination for travelers in 2016, according to Mastercard’s annual Mastercard Destination Cities Index list.

Thailand’s capital attracted 19.41 million visitors, followed by London (19.06 million), Paris (15.45 million) and Dubai, United Arab Emirates, (14.87 million).

As to where the tourists spent the most, Dubai was first with $28.5 billion in tourist dollars last year. New York was second ($17.02 billion) and London was third ($16.09 billion) in tourist income over the course of 2016.

Six of the top 10 cities visited by tourists were in Asia: joining Bangkok and Dubai were Singapore (13.11 million visitors); Seoul (12.39 million visitors); Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, (11.28 million visitors); and Tokyo (11.15 million visitors).

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In its findings, Mastercard also referenced the “cities of tomorrow,” which the credit card company believes will be on the itineraries of travelers in the years to come. With the exception of Lima, Peru, all these cities are in Asia: Osaka, Japan; Chengdu, China; Colombo, Sri Lanka; Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; Jakarta, Malaysia; Tokyo, Japan; Hanoi, Vietnam; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; and Taipei, Taiwan.

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Photo of John Harrington
About the Author John Harrington →

I'm a journalist who started my career as a sportswriter, covering professional, college, and high school sports. I pivoted into business news, working for the biggest newspapers in New Jersey, including The Record, Star-Ledger and Asbury Park Press. I was an editor at the weekly publication Crain’s New York Business and served on several editorial teams at Bloomberg News. I’ve been a part of 24/7 Wall St. since 2017, writing about politics, history, sports, health, the environment, finance, culture, breaking news, and current events. I'm a graduate of Rutgers University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History.

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