Europe seems to be the flavour of season,with London and Paris emerging as top cities in terms of hosting largest number of international travellers,says a report. Apart from London and Paris,8 other European cities have found a place in the top 20,according to the MasterCard Index of Global Destination Cities. Cities in Asia Pacific come second,accounting for eight of the top 20 places by international arrivals,with Bangkok followed by Singapore and Hong Kong. Dubai,in the Middle East,is ranked ninth. New York,which is at twelth rank,is the only city in North America to make it to the list. The research describes and analyses 132 destination cities across the world in terms of number of their total international arrivals and the cross-border spending by these same visitors in the destination cities. However,when these top 20 destination cities are ranked in terms of the growth rates of visitor arrivals expected in 2011,Barcelona is ranked first. The city is expected to grow by an impressive 24.3 per cent in visitor arrivals this year. Besides,Asia Pacific region has also displayed strong visitor growth for this year with Kuala Lumpur ranked second in the world with a 21.8 growth forecast. Istanbul ranked third with 20.4 per cent,followed by Shanghai (18.6 per cent) and Hong Kong (17.4 per cent). New York is expected to grow by 11.7 per cent. In terms of expenditure,London ranks at the top,followed by New York and Paris in second and third places,respectively. Estimated visitors' cross-border expenditures in these cities for 2011 amounted to USD 25.6 billion,USD 20.3 billion and USD 14.6 billion respectively. Overall,the world's top 20 list in terms visitor expenditures consists of eight destinations in Europe,six in Asia,three in North America,two in Australia,and one in the Middle East. "This kind of growth pattern strongly suggests that destination cities in emerging markets in Asia will continue to grow in importance," MasterCard Worldwide Global Economic Advisor Yuwa Hedrick-Wong said. In the Asia Pacific region,Bangkok scored fourth globally with USD 14.4 billion visitors expenditure expected to be spent by passengers in 2011. Besides,Sydney(USD 13.8 billion),Singapore (USD10.8 billion) and Hong Kong (USD 10.4 billion) also bagged a position in the top 20 list.
