The Thai capital of Bangkok has beaten London to be crowned the world’s most popular travel destination in 2016. This is contained in the annual ranking released by global payments and technology company MasterCard.
Thailand, South-East Asia’s second largest economy had been a rare bright spot for tourism. It had grappled with weak consumer confidence and export after a 2014 coup. The military said it was committed to ending months of political unrest.
In August, wave of bomb blasts in southern Thailand, which police had blamed on Muslim separatists, appeared to have had a limited impact on tourism. Bangkok, also known as the ‘city of angels’, topped the 2016 listing of 132 cities, beating London, Paris and Dubai. It had become the city most visited by international travellers in the MasterCard Index of Global Destination Cities. “It isn’t a flash in the pan.
Bangkok is in a strong position to be the top destination city for a long time,” Yuwa Hedrick- Wong, MasterCard Chief Economist said.
“There’s the value for money, especially for visitors coming from high-income countries.’’ Thailand expects to welcome a record 33 million visitors this year, thanks to a jump in the number of Chinese tourists. Sprawling Bangkok is projected to receive 21.47 million international visitors in 2016, just ahead of second-ranked London, with 19.88 million visitors.
“The pollution makes it a less than ideal city to stay long term, but the food is second to none,’’ James Donnelly, 31, a tourist from Britain who was visiting the city on his way to Vietnam said.
In Asia, the Japanese city of Osaka had shown the strongest growth in international visitors over the past seven years, attracting tourists from neighbouring countries, particularly China and South Korea, said MasterCard. The British capital topped the 2015 ranking of global destinations, but MasterCard did not say why some of its shine had rubbed off for travellers this year, reports Reuters.
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