Every year, MasterCard puts together it’s Global Destination Cities Index, which tracks airline ticket purchases, souvenir purchases, and other travel spending data to figure out which cities are the most popular destinations for tourists in 2015. Can’t decide where your next vacation will be? Take a look at all the destinations listed below…….One just may be YOURS!

20. LIMA, PERU

19. TOKYO, JAPAN

18. RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA

17. VIENNA, AUSTRIA

Vienna dropped one spot from last year, with just over 6 million tourists visiting. Still, it’s growing in visitor spending, beating out both Milan and Berlin. There’s much more to Austria’s capital than the classical music and art that made it famous—it’s one of the most eco-friendly cities in Europe.

16. SHANGHAI, CHINA

15. TAIPEI, TAIWAN

14. ROME, ITALY

The Eternal City had an uptick in both the number of tourists and the amount of money spent per person, and it remains beloved by Conde Nast Traveler readers, who voted it their seventh-favorite city in the world.

13. MILAN, ITALY

Milan is home to Italy’s Fashion Week , but the fashion-conscious city slipped slightly this year, coming in at no. 13 overall and sixth in Europe. The reason for its slight decline? Although it had almost the same number of tourists in 2013 and 2014, the average amount spent per person went down.

12. AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS

11. BARCELONA, SPAIN

Barcelona came in at no. 9 on Traveler ‘s readers’ choice list of the top 25 cities in 2014 . The beachfront city beloved by art lovers is a perennial hit with travelers, with 7.37 million people passing through this year.

10. SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA

9. HONG KONG

8. KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA

7. ISTANBUL, TURKEY

Istanbul is at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, and its ranking on the list this year reflects its central location. Fifty-five percent of tourists in Istanbul come from outside Europe; the city is also becoming popular as an extended layover spot—it was the fastest growing international air hub in 2014.

6. NEW YORK, NY

5. DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

4. SINGAPORE

3. PARIS, FRANCE

The city often called the most romantic place in the world is a perennial tourist favorite, with proposals in front of the Eiffel Tower a daily occurrence. The list of famous attractions—Notre Dame Cathedral, the Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre —seems endless, and the world-class cuisine attracts foodies of every stripe. The 15.6 million annual visitors can’t get enough. Unlike London, whose biggest group of tourists is from within the EU, Paris’s visitors are the opposite: 53 percent come from outside of Europe, especially the United States and Japan.

2.BANGKOK, THAILAND

1.LONDON, ENGLANDlondon

Despite its high price—the pound is strong, making it one of the most expensive places to live and to visit—London continued its dominance in the tourism industry. Some 18.7 million tourists came through the British capital in 2014, putting it more than two million people ahead of its closest competitor. It also comes in at no. 1 in terms of total visitor spending, with tourists spending a grand total of $19.27 billion in 2014. That is a lot of cups of tea.

If some of these cities strike your fancy, Call or email our office today to have one of our specialized agents put together a trip of a lifetime!

 

Call 800-621-2259 Email: info@tourcrafters.com