a city with a body of water and a city in the background

Some cities are so fantastic- it’s worth braving the crowds just for a taste. With so many trending destinations and new hotspots annually, it’s tough to keep up with where all the “cool kids” are going. Fortunately, Mastercard has been keeping track of the cities with the most international visitors who spend at least a night. Can you guess the ten most visited cities in the world?

a city skyline with many lights#10 Hong Kong

Annual visitors: 9.25 Million.

a city with tall buildings#9 Kuala Lumpur

Annual visitors: 12.1 Million

30 Rockefeller Plaza skyline at sunset#8 New York

Annual Visitors: 12.4 Million.

a city with lights and a mountain in the background#7 Seoul

Annual Visitors: 12.44 Million. 

a red building with a tall tower with Sensō-ji in the background#6 Tokyo

Annual Visitors: 12.5 Million. 

a city skyline with a body of water#5 Singapore

Annual Visitors: 13.45 Million. 

a city next to water#4 Dubai

Annual Visitors: 16 Million. 

a city with a tall tower#3 Paris

Annual Visitors: 16.1 Million. 

a bridge over a river with a clock tower and a building#2 London

Annual Visitors: 20 Million. 

a city with many buildings and a city skyline#1 Bangkok

Annual Visitors: 20.2 Million. 

What was your biggest surprise on the list?

HT: The Independent

Gilbert Ott

Gilbert Ott is an ever curious traveler and one of the world's leading travel experts. His adventures take him all over the globe, often spanning over 200,000 miles a year and his travel exploits are regularly...

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2 Comments

  1. Surely a better result would be from visitors spending two nights or more? A lot of the cities are major long haul hubs so spending a night in, say Singapore or Hong Kong, when travelling between London and Australia is quite common. Doesn’t mean that the cities are popular tourist destinations.

  2. I’ve been to all ten. But to be fair, Tokyo and Seoul were just stopovers. My favourite is Dubai.

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