Last month I grinned at this glittering view of London as our United 767 approached Heathrow. See the Thames? (Photo: Chris McGinnis)
London is the most popular travel destination in the world. (I would agree with that!) The British capital reclaimed the most popular spot based on air travel arrivals and foreign visitor spending, besting last year’s most popular destination, Bangkok, by more than 2 million visitors according to MasterCard’s Global Destination Cities Index released this week.
Where else are people traveling? Behind London and Bangkok, Paris, Singapore and Dubai rounded the top five locations across the globe.
I’ve been to all five of these cities within the last five years, but as a business travel columnist for BBC, that’s not out of the ordinary. But what about you? Read on to learn what I truly think about these places, and please let me know if you agree with me or not! See comments below!
Thankfully, MasterCard narrowed down the content of its massive report to the following data points. See my comments in italics after each… and please leave your comments below!
>Who’s traveling to the most popular destination in the world? Visitors to London come most often by way of New York, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Stockholm and Dublin. London will always remain in my top 2-3 cities because every time I go (and I’ve been at least once per year for the last 20 years) I find something new or interesting there. It has a dynamic dining and hotel scene, is always modernizing or changing, and just feels like the center of the universe to me. Some recent new finds: The Great Northern Hotel in the now-hip-once-seedy area around Kings Cross Station on the north side of town. The Borough Market is always worth a visit, especially now that you can make a side trip into the new, nearby Shard and have a look at the new Shangri-La hotel inside it.
View from a room at the new Shangri-La Paris. Who can’t love Paris? (Photo: Chris McGinnis)
>Interestingly, Dubai is poised to eclipse Paris and Singapore as a more popular city than within five years if it continues to show such healthy growth number. I don’t get the attraction to Dubai. Once the novelty wears off (in a day or two) it feels like Las Vegas without the gambling and limited booze to me. Sure, it has a futuristic airport, a fab hometown airline, glam hotels and big architecture, but it was hot and dusty most of the time I was there. And I can’t help but keep wondering what would happen to the place if the desalinization plants ever shut down. Sure, it’s great for a stop over or a business trip, but I don’t think I’d go back on my own dime. Now, Paris is a complete other story. Who can’t love Paris? Enough said. I had a really great time on a recent trip to Singapore– I really liked eating like a local at the “hawker stalls” and inspecting a raft of new hotels, but I was put off by the stifling heat, humidity and painfully high prices. Also, it seems unfair that locals are only allowed into casinos by paying a steep fee, but foreigners get in for free (and yes, they ask for passports at the casino door). But it’s worth seeing, especially that spaceship-like Marina Bay Sands with the pool on the roof. Wow!
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>Perhaps the most surprising result this year is that Lima, Peru broke through as the first Latin American city to rank in the top 20 most popular destinations in the world and had more than double the visitors (5.11 million) as presumed more popular cities: Mexico City (2.57 million) or Sao Paulo (2.51 million). I have not been to Lima, but hope to make it there one day soon, even though LAN recently cut its nonstops from SFO. It’s been interesting to see the popularity of Peruvian cuisine sweep across the US. On the downside, I’ve heard that Lima is somewhat gritty and cloudy most of the time, so I’d probably hightail it outta there and hit the Andes and Machu Picchu after a few days. I was in Mexico City last year and really REALLY liked it. It’s definitely cleaned up its act lately, has a fun food/dining scene and lots of new hotels– it’s clearly a sleeper city.
The Turkish Airlines CIP lounge at Istanbul Ataturk airport (Photo: Turkish Airlines)
>Movers & Shakers: Istanbul saw the greatest percentage change in visitors from 2013 to 2014 with 17.5% more visitors, while Amsterdam bested Milan for twelfth place, pushing the Italian city of fashion to #13. It’s been a while since I’ve been to Istanbul, and I’m gunning to get back. I’m enthralled by the emergence of Turkish Airlines as such a big global player, and can’t wait to see its unusually mod airport club at Ataturk International one day. Based on the increasing number of Facebook posts and pics I see of my friends and readers at the mosques and markets, I’d say many folks are crossing this off their bucket list. Milan remains on my bucket list.
>New York was notably the only North American city to crack the top 10 (or even the top 20!) list of top destinations worldwide. Behind New York the top cities remained unchanged YOY – Los Angeles (#2), Miami (#3), Toronto (#4) and San Francisco (#5) This is clearly a sign of how unwelcoming the US is to foreign visitors with unwieldy visa requirements. I know we had to tighten up after 9/11 but come on! In any case, New York always seems to be brimming with foreign tourists, which is why I always try to avoid the biggest tourist traps like Times Square or Fifth Ave, except for a day during the holidays when going there is fun and gets me in the holiday spirit…but I only stick around for an hour or so to see the tree at Rockefeller center, then split! The hotel scene in NYC is crazy these days, with new hotels opening at least monthly, so it’s hard to keep up. But one of my favorite pastimes when there is to just walk around town and check out the new hotel lobbies and have a drink or a meal.
Okay! Your turn! Please leave your comments about the world’s top five cities below! LONDON, BANGKOK, PARIS, SINGAPORE, DUBAI. Have you been? What did you like or not like? Do you agree or disagree with my brief assessments?
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Sent via email from reader NG:
An excellent way for those of us with limited hotel points to see London is a stay in Croydon; just south of the city. The Hilton is 20k points per night making a week there affordable.
The 10 – 15 minute bus to the train, and then trains every 5 minutes or so, puts you at Victoria about 45 minutes each day and faster if the hotel van takes you to the train.
The “London Pass” and the travel ticket (everything is covered inside zones 1-6) was about $500.00 US for two and the app on the phone pinpointed the lesser known attractions covered by the “Pass”.
Shorter lines at the big attractions and admission to places I would normally not pay for was a fun way to go.
The Rock and Roll walking tour of SoHo and Carnaby was really cool for a couple celebrating our 60th birthdays.
Thanks for the daily notes.
I was an original subscriber when you mailed the newsletter for $35.00 a year!
Chris;
You failed to mention that even in 2014 Singapore continues to discriminate against HIV positive people in regards to tourist and business travel. I know it’s hard to believe that this is stil happening in 2014, but it’s true.
ThanksED! You all are hitting on all my bucket list cities! Vienna is right in there with KL and Milan! Gaping holes on my pin map 🙂 Thanks for all your interesting responses to this post, folks! –chris
I was just in Singapore and Hong Kong this past Spring, and loved them both. I agree that the heat/humidity in Singapore was pretty stifling, but I didn’t actually find it to be all that expensive. It may have been because we had a local friend who could take us to his favorite hawker stalls, but the food was cheap and amazing, taxis were common and affordable (not the case here in SF!) and even the well staffed, historic hotel was pretty affordable. Certainly it seemed no more expensive than major European cities (I assume London is still incredibly expensive), with the exception of alcohol. The only issue I had with Hong Kong was that at times it was very crowded, but I was accidentally there during a major Chinese holiday, my mistake. I think I would have loved Macau as well because of the historic core, but it was completely mobbed with Chinese tourists the day I was there, which made it less enjoyable.
My other favorite vacation destination in the past few years was Vienna, I think it’s the best city I’ve been to for just wandering through the old part of town. Not overly crowded, a general laid back feeling, and excellent beer, wine, and meat! It’s on my list of places to return sooner rather than later. Of course, this doesn’t count some of my favorite North American destinations. I tell everyone I know they should just come visit San Francisco 🙂
I love London too, but with the exchange rate it is very, very expensive.
Hey Bob! Now that’s a cool story about Pizarra… I remember that when I go! — Chris
Hey John: That’s a good point about Hong Kong! Surprised it’s not on the MasterCard list and I agree about the Star Ferry and the light show. — chris
Thanks, Jim! I loved your descriptions, which really make me want to go to KL– on my bucket list, still! — chris
I really like London and Paris a lot. But the two cities that really stood out during my round the world trip (2011-12) was Kuala Lumpur and Istanbul. KL has a great public transportation system, friendly people and the best cuisine I have enjoyed in my travels so far. Similar to Singaporean but a little less Chinese influence and a little more Indian spice. I spent two weeks staying in an extra bedroom (Airbnb) on the Asian side of Istanbul. It was great living like a local. I miss being offered a glass of chai (tea) wherever I was. Plus the ferry network around the Bosporus. I rode the ferries several times a day because they gave you a better view of the city and people.
I would not have London and Singapore in the top five because of the high cost of living, although the variety of food options in Singapore is hard to beat. Among the cities the list omits that I would strongly recommend as top-five contenders are Hong Kong, Amsterdam and Prague. Amsterdam and Prague are “pocket” Parises with a great deal of culture, history and architectural beauty packed into a small area where walking or a short tram ride gets you to everything. Amsterdam also has a great airport with easy train connections to the city. Ditto for Hong Kong. Hotel prices in Hong Kong are high, but there is nothing cooler than being in the middle of Victoria Harbor on the Star Ferry during the evening laser show. There are many things to do and see in the Hong Kong SAR plus you can take a short ferry ride to Macau, which seems to have preserved much of its colonial history and dwarfs Las Vegas in terms of gambling visitors and revenue. Also from Hong Kong tours to the mainland are available without going through the normal visa hassles.
I went to Lima frequently on business in the mid 1990’s. There is a lot of fog — Lima has the same conditions as SF, only more extreme. There is a story that Lima was founded where it is because Pizarro demanded that the Incas give him some land along the coast, and the Incas responded by giving him the site of Lima — where the fog was the worst. However, Lima is an excellent city for restaurants, due to having had waves of immigrants from all over the world.
Thanks, Bill! People always ask what my favorite city is and I feel like it’s a letdown when I say LONDON because it’s such a common destination. But I do love the place… each and every time. Even if it’s just at the airport! — chris
Chris:Like you, I believe London certainly deserves the #1 spot. At the height of my second career, I was often there 3 or 4 times a year. My favorite hotel is the Trafalgar (a Hilton), sitting right on the northwest corner of Trafalgar Square. I have been fortunate enough to have lived/worked on every continent except Australia and Antartica. However, the UK and London are tops in my opinion. The pubs, musuems, the tradition of the Horse Guards and the Guards Brigade, the walks along the Thames, the West End. Wow! Sometimes I wish I hadn’t retired and could still pass through there at my company’s expense (Ha).
Here’s where the rankings come from according the the release: The MasterCard Index of Global Destination Cities ranks cities in terms of the number of their total international visitor arrivals and the cross-border spending by these same visitors in the destination cities, and gives visitor and passenger growth forecasts for 2014.Public data are used in deriving the international visitor arrivals and their cross-border spending in each of the 132 destination cities, using custom-made algorithms; paying special attention to eliminate the hub effects for destination cities such as Singapore, Amsterdam and Frankfurt.
Thanks, Paul! These “popularity” lists do vary a lot, but this one by MasterCard is based on airline arrivals and visitor spending, and has some solid numbers to back it up– see the link to the full report in the post. — chris
These list come out and they are always wrong. The top tourist destinations on the planet are Las Vegas and Orlando. I want to say Vegas is at about 40 some million visitors now and over 150,000 hotel rooms. Not sure why they list stuff like Dubai which doesn’t see as any visotrs as the venetian is my guess.