Top 100 World Travel Market 2017: Hong Kong, and Asian too, the most visited city

Hong Kong has retained the title of the world’s most visited city for the eighth consecutive year in Euromonitor International’s latest Top 100 City Destinations Ranking 2017 Edition. Unveiled on Tuesday at World Travel Market London, the report puts Bangkok in second place and London in third spot, and stresses the pivotal impact of the inexorable rise of Chinese outbound tourism.

According to the report, Asian cities dominate the global destination rankings thanks to the unstoppable rise of Chinese outbound tourism demand. Hong Kong is the most visited city in the world, followed by Bangkok, which overtook London in 2015. Wouter Geerts, Senior Travel Analyst at Euromonitor International, comments: “Asia Pacific is the standout region driving change in travel. We expect the region to continue growing in the coming decade with Singapore overtaking London as the third most visited city in the world by 2025, giving the podium fully to Asia.”

As many as 41 cities from Asia-Pacific are included in the top 100 city destination in 2017, a rise from 34 cities in 2010. An estimated 47 Asia-Pacific cities are expected to be included in the top 100 ranking in 2025 due to the impact of inter-Asian travel.

On the contrary, the performance of European cities has been hampered by the Eurozone and migrants’ crisis, as well as Brexit and terrorist attacks. Despite the uncertainty, some European destinations, in particular Greece, Italy and Spain, have profited from unrest in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

The top ten most visited cities (in million) are:

 1 – Hong Kong: 26.6 
 2 – Bangkok: 21.2 
 3 – London: 19.2 
 4 – Singapore: 16.6 
 5 – Macau: 15.4 
 6 – Dubai: 14.9 
 7 – Paris: 14.4 
 8 – New York: 12.7 
 9 – Shenzhen: 12.6 
10 – Kuala Lumpur: 12.3