Economy
Budapest finishes higher in top global destinations ranking
The Mastercard Index, which expanded this year to look at global 162 cities, shows that nearly six million international visitors spent an average of five nights in Budapest, spending a total of almost three billion US dollars (HUF 825 bn) or USD 103 per person per day on average.
With the global economy buzzing, the annual growth of international overnight visitors to the Top 10 destination cities was up in 2017 except for Seoul, which saw a dip. The forecast for 2018 indicates across-the-board growth, with Istanbul expecting the largest uptick in visitors.
The ranking of top cities by dollars spent has Dubai on top where visitors spend USD 537 by day on average, and where total spending was almost USD 30 mn in 2017. The second is Makkah, with USD 18.45 mn total spending, followed by London with USD 17.45 mn. As regards the daily spending, Dubai is followed by Paris (USD 301) and Singapore (USD 286).
About the Mastercard Global Destination Cities Index
The Mastercard Index of Global Destination Cities ranks cities in terms of the number of their total international overnight visitor arrivals and the cross-border spending by these same visitors in the destination cities in 2017, and gives international overnight visitor growth forecasts for 2018.
Public data is used in deriving the international overnight visitor arrivals and their cross-border spending in each of the 162 destination cities.
Forecasts are based upon the weighted average of the national level tourism forecasts and the actual 2018 monthly data at the destination level, which is available to the latest month before release.
This Index and the accompanying reports are not based on Mastercard volumes or transactional data.
With roughly 20 million international overnight visitors, Bangkok remains in the top spot this year and is unlikely to be bested due to a strong projected growth of 9.6% for 2018. Interestingly, visitors tend to stay in Bangkok 4.7 nights and spend USD 173 per day, on average. It is followed by London with 19.83 million visitors, and Paris with 17.5 million.
The number of international visitors is expected to rise by 3-10% in the Top 10 cities including (besides the aforementioned Top3) Dubai, Singapore, New York, Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo, Istanbul and Seoul, with the number of nights and money spent there also seen going up.With the global economy buzzing, the annual growth of international overnight visitors to the Top 10 destination cities was up in 2017 except for Seoul, which saw a dip. The forecast for 2018 indicates across-the-board growth, with Istanbul expecting the largest uptick in visitors.
The ranking of top cities by dollars spent has Dubai on top where visitors spend USD 537 by day on average, and where total spending was almost USD 30 mn in 2017. The second is Makkah, with USD 18.45 mn total spending, followed by London with USD 17.45 mn. As regards the daily spending, Dubai is followed by Paris (USD 301) and Singapore (USD 286).
About the Mastercard Global Destination Cities Index
The Mastercard Index of Global Destination Cities ranks cities in terms of the number of their total international overnight visitor arrivals and the cross-border spending by these same visitors in the destination cities in 2017, and gives international overnight visitor growth forecasts for 2018.
Public data is used in deriving the international overnight visitor arrivals and their cross-border spending in each of the 162 destination cities.
Forecasts are based upon the weighted average of the national level tourism forecasts and the actual 2018 monthly data at the destination level, which is available to the latest month before release.
This Index and the accompanying reports are not based on Mastercard volumes or transactional data.
