Planning a holiday?

If you’re the type of person who relies on the hive to determine whether or not a place is worth visiting, then you’ll want to check out UK-based market research company Euromonitor International’s Top 100 City Destinations 2018 report.

Euromonitor International’s research covers 600 cities and measures global inbound arrivals at airports. Global air traffic has been growing year by year, with Asia as the biggest player, clocking 41 0f the top 100 cities on the list.

Urban centres are still attracting the most visits as 1,4 billion people are expected to flock to cities around the world this year, reports CNN.

Once again, Hong Kong has come out on top. Close to 30 million tourists are expected to travel to the region before the year is out — and more than 50% of them will be from the Chinese mainland.

Bangkok is in second place with close to 24 million visitors expected this year, while Singapore, Macau, Kuala Lumpur and Shenzhen are all the top 10.

Outside of Asia, London is in third place with just under 21 million international tourists expected.

Its European rivals — Paris, with 16.9 million, and Rome, with 9.7 million — must make do with sixth place and 15th place, respectively.

Megahub Dubai is in seventh place, with 16.7 million visitors, although Euromonitor International reports that the Middle East and Africa regions are the lowest performers overall, with cities such as Jerba and Sousse in Tunisia and Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt dropping out of the ranking in recent years due to the impact of terrorist attacks.

Cairo, however, is bouncing back, and places No. 50 in this year’s list, with 4.9 million international visitors expected.

Here’s a list of the top 20 most visited cities, based on 2017 arrivals and 2018 estimates:

1. Hong Kong: 27,880,300 arrivals (2017) / 29,827,200 arrivals (2018)
2. Bangkok, Thailand: 22,453,900 arrivals (2017) / 23,688,800 arrivals (2018)
3. London, England: 19,827,800 arrivals (2017) / 20,715,900 arrivals (2018)
4. Singapore: 17,618,800 arrivals (2017) / 18,551,200 arrivals (2018)
5. Macau: 17,337,200 arrivals (2017) / 18,931,400 arrivals (2018)
6. Paris, France: 15,834,200 arrivals (2017) / 16,863,500 arrivals (2018)
7. Dubai, United Arab Emirates: 15,790,000 arrivals (2017) / 16,658,500 arrivals (2018)
8. New York City, USA: 13,100,000 arrivals (2017) / 13,500,000 arrivals (2018)
9. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: 12,843,500 arrivals (2017) / 13,434,000 arrivals (2018)
10. Shenzhen, China: 12,075,100 arrivals (2017) / 12,437,300 arrivals (2018)
11. Phuket, Thailand: 11,613,100 arrivals (2017) / 11,945,500 arrivals (2018)
12. Istanbul, Turkey: 10,730,300 arrivals (2017) / 12,121,100 arrivals (2018)
13. Delhi, India: 10,157,000 arrivals (2017) / 12,505,300 arrivals (2018)
14. Tokyo, Japan: 9,549,400 arrivals (2017) / 9,896,300 arrivals (2018)
15. Rome, Italy: 9,531,600 arrivals (2017) / 9,703,200 arrivals (2018)
16. Antalya, Turkey: 9,482,400 arrivals (2017) / 10,729,300 arrivals (2018)
17. Taipei, Taiwan: 9,273,300 arrivals (2017) / 9,783,300 arrivals (2018)
18. Guangzhou, China: 9,004,800 arrivals (2017) / 9,392,000 arrivals (2018)
19. Mumbai, India: 8,984,900 arrivals (2017) / 10,670,100 arrivals (2018)
20. Prague, Czech Republic: 8,806,700 arrivals (2017) / 9,038,900 arrivals (2018)

Euromonitor International names Mumbai, Porto, Osaka and Jerusalem as its cities to watch.

Mumbai will enter the Asian top 10 next year, with an expected arrivals growth of 19%, and is prepared for the influx, with the first phase of the new Navi Mumbai International Airport set to be operational by 2019..

After a slump between 2013 and 2015, Jerusalem arrivals are expected to grow by 38% in 2018, thanks, says Euromonitor International, to “relative stability and a strong marketing push.”

As for the US – New York City was the only American city to make it into the top 20 with an expected 13,5 million visitors expected before the year’s end.

Miami appears at No. 22, while Los Angeles and Las Vegas are No. 27 and No. 28.

Euromonitor International points out that while the US National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO) announced in September 2017 that visitor numbers had fallen by 5% year on year — “inevitably it was put down to the Trump effect” — the NTTO has since had to revise its figures.

Ah yes, the Trump effect.

Happy travelling.

[source:cnn]