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Travel

14th Oct 2018

The most popular tourist city in the world has been named and we’re pretty surprised

It beat places like New York, Paris and Bali.

Anna O'Rourke

Have you been?

Everyone has their own preferences for what they want from a holiday.

It could be action and adventure or relaxation and luxury – but some destinations are so special that everyone wants to visit them at least once in their lifetime.

Places like New York City, Paris, Bali, Dubai are at the top of most people’s travel wish lists but it turns out that none of them are the world’s most popular travel destination.

The most popular tourist city in the world has been named and we're pretty surprised

That honour falls to the Thai capital of Bangkok.

It attracted over 20 million international visitors in 2017, making it the number one city for people from around the world to go on holidays last year according to the Mastercard’s 2018 Global Destination Cities Index.

The research found that the average stay in Bangkok was 4.7 days, with travellers spending an average of £130 (around €148) per day there.

The most popular tourist city in the world has been named and we're pretty surprised

London was the second most popular tourist city worldwide, followed by Paris in third place, Dubai in fourth and Singapore in fifth.

Here’s the list in full:

1. Bangkok (20.05 million visitors in 2017)
2. London (19.83 million)
3. Paris (17.44 million)
4. Dubai (15.79 million)
5. Singapore (13.91 million)
6. New York (13.13 million)
7. Kuala Lumpur (12.58 million)
8. Tokyo (11.93 million)
9. Istanbul (10.70 million)
10. Seoul (9.54 million)
11. Antalya (9.42 million)
12. Phuket (9.29 million)
13. Mecca (9.18 million)
14. Hong Kong (9.03 million)
15. Milan (8.81 million)
16. Palma de Mallorca (8.78 million)
17. Barcelona (8.69 million)
18. Pattaya (8.67 million)
19. Osaka (8.42 million)
20. Bali(8.30 million)