This was published 8 years ago
London beats Paris to be named world's most popular city again in 2015
By Natalie Paris
London is expected to have clocked up 18.82 million visitors by the end of the year.Credit: iStock
London has cause to celebrate as it expects to be crowned the world's most popular city again this year, beating Paris.
It is the fifth time in seven years that England's capital has lay claim to the title, based on projected visitor numbers for 2015. It was also found to have the most visitors last year.
The popularity contest between capitals is often highly contentious, with London, arch rivals Paris and, in recent years Bangkok, all vying for, and frequently claiming top spot.
By the end of the year, London is expected to have clocked up 18.82 million overnight-stay, overseas visitors, putting it at the top of a 132-city table.
Bangkok, with 18.24 million over-night stay visitors projected, is in second place, with Paris third and Dubai fourth.
Australia was nowhere to be found in the list, with our most visited city, Sydney failing to make even the Asia-Pacific region's top 20.
Paris remains a favourite among travellers being named the third most visited in the world.Credit: AFP
The list of popular cities, compiled by MasterCard, was welcomed by the mayor Boris Johnson.
"I'm delighted that London has proudly held on to this coveted title, as we celebrate another triumphant and record-breaking year for tourism in the city," he said.
"With London's unrivalled mix of history, culture, culinary gems and cutting-edge creativity, I'm confident that these accolades will keep coming as the capital continues to surprise and excite visitors from all over the world."
Europe now has three of the top five most popular cities, London, Paris and Istanbul, with Bangkok and Dubai making up the global top five. Overall, nine European cities have each claimed a spot in the top 20 destination cities judged on the number of international overnight visitors, as follows: Barcelona (12th), Amsterdam (13th), Rome (14th), Milan (15th), Vienna (18th) and Prague (19th).
The top five cities in the Asia-Pacific region were Bangkok (2nd), Singapore (7th), Kuala Lumpur (8th), Seoul (9th) and Hong Kong (10th). Only one US city made the top 10: New York at No.6 with 12.27 million visitors. Los Angeles was the only other US city in the top 20, in 20th place with 5.2 million visitors.
Visitors to London are set to spend £13.3 billion ($A26.2 billion) in 2015, as international travellers making 382.9 million visits by air to the world's top 132 cities, will collectively spend £236 billion ($A465.4 billion).
On spending, Sydney managed to crack the top 20, named as no.17 on the list where international tourists will spend the most in 2015. But Australia's largest city also had one of the largest drops in spending compared with 2014, down 4.8 per cent to $US6.32 billion ($A8.13 billion).
Figures for 2013 placed London ahead of Paris with 16.8 million international arrivals to Paris's 15.2 million. It follows news that the French capital has began removing 'love locks' from its city bridges this week.
This result, which prompted Mr Johnson to claim at the time that London "is without doubt the greatest city on the planet", riled the French so much that Anne Hidalgo, deputy mayor of Paris, responded by describing London as a "suburb" of Paris that is less safe and less attractive for families.
Top 20 cities in 2015
These are the top 20 cities based on the expected number of foreign visitors making overnight-stay trips this year:
1. London: 18.82 million visitors
2. Bangkok: 18.24 million
3. Paris: 16.06 million
4. Dubai: 14.26 million
5. Istanbul: 12.56 million
6. New York: 12.27 million
7. Singapore: 11.88 million
8. Kuala Lumpur: 11.12 million
9. Seoul: 10.35 million
10. Hong Kong: 8.66 million
11. Barcelona: 7.37 million
12. Amsterdam: 7.23 million
13. Milan: 6.82 million
14. Rome: 6.79 million
15. Taipei: 6.29 million
16. Shanghai: 6.09 million
17. Vienna: 6.05 million
18. Riyadh: 5.59 million
19. Tokyo: 5.38 million
20. Lima: 5.11 million
The Telegraph, London
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