Top 25 Most Visited Cities

by s.s. yoga

As in the year before, Hong Kong in 2012 hosted the most foreign visitors. – AFP

Have a look at the top 25 cities that received the most foreign visitors in 2012.

EVERYONE and their grandparents seemed to have headed to Asia in 2012. And Kuala Lumpur snagged a spot in the top 10 most visited cities by foreigners in that year – coming in at sixth.

The number of international tourist arrivals in 2012 was tracked by London-based market research firm Euromonitor, which released the report recently. According to AFP, Hong Kong maintained its top ranking with 23,770,200 foreigners visiting its shores in that year.

In fact, Asian cities tightened their stranglehold on the market, taking six of the top seven positions; the monopoly was broken only by London at fourth.

In addition, more than half of the top 25 cities that received the most foreign visitors were in Asia. China assumed four spots – two more if you include the SAR regions of Hong Kong (No. 1) and Macau (No. 5). Thailand has three with Bangkok at No. 3, tying overall with the United States but New York came in only at eighth.

AFP reported analysts as attributing Bangkok's high position to the wild popularity of the 2012 Chinese film Lost In Thailand. As a result, London was pushed a rung below its No. 3 perch achieved in 2011.

Here are the top 25 city destinations based on the number of international arrivals in 2012 as recorded by Euromonitor:

1. Hong Kong – 23,770,200 visitors

2. Singapore – 21,345,700

3. Bangkok, Thailand – 15,822,600

4. London, Britain – 15,461,000

5. Macau – 13,360,800

6. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – 13,339,500

7. Shenzhen, China – 12,100,400

8. New York City, USA – 11,618,000

9. Antalya, Turkey – 10,296,600

10. Paris, France – 9,780,800

11. Istanbul, Turkey – 8,820,100

12. Rome, Italy – 8,670,000

13. Dubai, UAE – 8,023,000

14. Guangzhou, China – 7,879,600

15. Phuket, Thailand – 7,217,000

16. Mecca, Saudi Arabia – 6,852,900

17. Pattaya, Thailand – 6,564,300

18. Taipei, Taiwan – 6,561,200

19. Prague, Czech Republic – 6,547,700

20. Shanghai, China – 6,539,700

21. Las Vegas, USA – 6,298,000

22. Miami, USA – 5,987,000

23. Barcelona, Spain – 5,459,100

24. Moscow, Russia – 5,036,200

25. Beijing, China – 5,035,400

Source: The Star