Singapore got duly beaten by Bangkok as the top destination city in Asia Pacific, settling in at the second spot with 11.88 million visitors recorded last year.
The honor of top destination city in the world goes to London with 18.82 million international visitors, while runners-up Bangkok gets 18.24 million, according to MasterCard. “Given the very thin margin that London has over Bangkok, about half a million international visitors, their rivalry for the top rank is likely to persist,” they wrote.
The MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index charts 132 of the most important cities in the world and how many international visitors arrive at each of the cities.
Istanbul’s improvement in the rankings (from 7th to 5th) has pushed down both New York and Singapore down by one rank. Neighbours in the region Kuala Lumpur remain steadfast in their 8th spot, while Hong Kong similarly stay remains in 10th place, same as last year.
In terms of overnight visitor spending, Singapore earned a cool amount of $14.65 billion, which is actually pretty low in comparison to previous years. In 2013, the city-state had $15.44 billion in spending, while in 2014, it was $14.91 billion.
