Important! This article is written by orangesmile.com editors and is protected by copyright law. The article can only be re-used with a direct link to www.orangesmile.com

Top 3 Shopping Destinations Revealed

Bangkok, London, and Paris are the world’s top three destinations according to Mastercard Global Destinations Cities Index. The new version of the annual report was released earlier this week. The index contains information about the 132 destinations of the world and is based on the volume of international visitors and their spending in 2016.

Bangkok tops the list with 19.41 million international overnight visitors. The forecast for the city is positive, and it is expected to add 4.0% in 2017. London is the second with 19.41 million visitors. The prediction for this year is even higher than of Bangkok – 5.0%. An interesting fact – nearly a quarter of London visitors are from the US and France (2.32 and 1.99 million respectively). Paris occupies the third place with 15.45 million visitors. The ranks 4 to 10 are the following: Dubai (14.87m visitors), Singapore (13.11m visitors), New York (12.7m visitors), Seoul (12.39m visitors), Kuala Lumpur (11.28m visitors), Tokyo (11.15m visitors), and Istanbul (9.16m visitors).

Hotels in London can be secure about their future as the city has so many attractions for travelers. In addition to iconic landmarks and fantastic architecture, the internationally famous hub is also an incredibly popular shopping destination. On average, the share of shopping is 46.7% of travelers’ expenditure. That’s higher than in any other city in the world. Being an important business hub, only 1 out 5 visitors in London are on a business trip. Leisure travelers dominate, and their share is 81%. Travelers indeed love to shop in the British capital, and only two Japanese cities could come close in those terms. The shopping expenditure of travelers in Tokyo and Osaka was 43.1% and 43.4% respectively last year.

In total, international visitors spent US$16.09 billion in London last year. Naturally, that’s the highest result for Europe. Paris is second with the result of US$12.03 billion, which is significantly lower. The total structure of expenditures of international visitors in London is the following: shopping 46.7%, hotel cost 30.1%, food 16.5%, city transport 4.3%, services 1.9%, other 0.5%.

What makes London such a popular destination? Experts see nothing strange in that. One of the capitals of fashion and theatre, London appeals to different categories of travelers. Foodies adore local dining and countless Michelin restaurants, art connoisseurs are attracted by leading exhibitions. Fans of historic landmarks and futuristic buildings are not disappointed by the UK capital as well. Incredible diversity and energy of this vibrant city make it a must visit place for many people from all over the world.

27.09.2017

Previous article / Back to news index

Stay in touch with the latest news of a worldwide hotel industry. All up-to-date analytics, reports, and news about hotel business trends on OrangeSmile.com.