Mastercard’s Asia Pacific Destinations Index shows that HCM City is among the top 20 most visited destinations in the Asia Pacific region. — VNS Photo Gia Lộc
HCM CITY— Hà Nội and HCM City are among the 20 most visited destinations in their region, according to Mastercard’s Asia Pacific Destinations Index.
Hà Nội ranked 15th and HCM City 18th, and they saw an average daily spending of US$78 and $98 last year.
The five most popular destinations for international travellers were Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo and Seoul, which welcomed 22 per cent of all overnight visitors to the region’s top 161 cities and regional centres.
Primarily driven by explosive growth in outbound travel from mainland China, these five cities are also capturing more than 25 per cent of total international travel spending in the region.
In 2018, the Asia Pacific received travellers making 342.2 million business and leisure trips, up from 159.1 million in 2009, representing an 8.9 per cent annual growth rate.
In the same period, travel spending too more than doubled from $117.6 billion to $281.1billion, a growth rate of 10.2 per cent.
“With the top 20 cities attracting nearly half (49.8 per cent) of all international overnight arrivals to the 161 destinations …, it is important to understand not only how continuously rising travel numbers impact cities and destinations for the better, but also the challenges they pose,” said Rupert Naylor, senior vice president, data & services, Asia Pacific, Mastercard.
“This equips governments, merchants and the global travel industry with the information and insights they need to better serve their residents and visitors.”
The Asia Pacific Destinations Index is a regional subset of the Global Destination Cities Index launched in 2011. — VNS
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