The 20 Most Visited Cities in the World

Top 20 Most Visited Cities According to Euromonitor

 

Which metropolises across the globe attract the greatest number of visitors and collect the most profits? Interesting questions, which we believe most of you would like to know. That’s why, today, we answer this question with our list of the 20 most visited cities in the world.

But before discovering which is the most visited city in the whole world, we’d like to make a few notes. First of all, it seems that there isn’t one global source to base on as each nation tends to register tourist flows in a different way. That’s why we’ve analyzed data collected in Mastercard’s “Global Destination City Index” and the “Top 100 City Destinations: 2019 Edition” by Euromonitor, a company specializing in consulting and market analysis. The two studies differ from each other in terms of counting, therefore they produce different rankings

So, let’s check them out!

Top 20 Most Visited Cities According to Mastercard

Top 20 Most Visited Cities According to Mastercard

Mastercard’s count is based on the number of international visitors who have booked at least one night’s stay in a given city. At the top we find Bangkok, Paris follows closely, and London closes the podium.

NOTE: The list is extracted from the most recent report available online, based on data collected in 2018.

City Country # of International arrivals
Bangkok Thailand 22.780.000
Paris France 19.100.000
London UK 19.090.000
Dubai United Arab Emirates 15.930.000
Singapore Singapore 14.670.000
Kuala Lumpur Malaysia 13.790.000
New York United States 13.700.000
Istanbul Turkey 13.400.000
Tokyo Japan 12.930.000
Antalya Turkey 12.410.000
Seoul South Korea 11.250.000
Osaka Japan 10.140.000
Mecca Saudi Arabia 10.000.000
Phuket Thailand 9.890.000
Pattaya Thailand 9.440.000
Milan Italy 9.100.000
Barcelona Spain 9.090.000
Palma de Mallorca Spain 8.820.000
Bali Indonesia 8.260.000
Hong Kong China 8.230.000

Top 20 Most Visited Cities According to Euromonitor

Top 20 Most Visited Cities According to Euromonitor

Euromonitor takes into account the “flow of arrivals”, i.e. the number of people who have visited a city in another country for at least 24 hours, for a period not exceeding 12 months, and have stayed in paid or unpaid accommodation, collective or private. Therefore the Euromonitor ranking varies in different positions compared to the previous one.

Namely, in the first position is Hong Kong, followed by Bangkok and London, the latter being one of the very few cities that maintain the same position in both rankings.

NOTE: The ranking is extracted from the most recent report available online, based on data collected in 2018.

Position City Country # of International arrivals
1 Hong Kong Hong Kong 29.262.700
2 Bangkok Thailand 24.177.500
3 London UK 19.233.000
4 Macau Macau 18.931.400
5 Singapore Singapore 18.551.200
6 Paris France 17.560.200
7 Dubai United Arab Emirates 15.920.700
8 New York City USA 13.600.000
9 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia 13.434.300
10 Istanbul Turkey 13.433.000
11 Delhi India 12.645.300
12 Antalya Turkey 12.438.800
13 Shenzhen China 12.202.100
14 Mumbai India 10.590.100
15 Phuket Thailand 10.550.700
16 Rome Italy 10.065.400
17 Tokyo Japan 9.985.100
18 Pattaya Thailand 9.606.400
19 Taipei Taiwan 9.597.800
20 Mecca Saudi Arabia 9.565.200