What makes a vacation spot popular? Well, there are quite a few factors that attract travelers to certain places, and these factors are constantly changing. Depending on your age, you will be attracted to beach resorts with party spots and nudist beaches or golf courses and thermal springs. And, depending on what influencers you follow on social media, you might be interested in visiting one place for its cuisine, another for its picture-perfect vistas. All these factors were taken into account to boil down the list of the most popular vacations spots in 2018 as presented by MasterCard’s Global Destination Cities Index that shows which of the many amazing places on our planet were visited by the most people last year.
Visitor count
For their top list, MasterCard’s analysts have taken into account the number of visitors coming from outside the country that have stayed in the cities overnight. With more than 20 million, Bangkok has made it to the top of the list last year. This shouldn’t be a surprise – on one hand, because Bangkok has topped the list of the most visited destinations around the globe for years, and on the other, because it’s a tourist-friendly, exotic destination with myriads of things to try, taste, and photograph. On average, visitors spent 4.7 nights in Bangkok last year, and around $170 dollars a day.
The other destinations that round out the top five are London (19.8 million visitors spending 5.8 nights), Paris (17.44 million visitors spending 2.5 nights), Dubai (15.8 million visitors spending 3.5 nights) and Singapore (13.9 million visitors spending 4.3 nights).
Money spent
How much money did international visitors spend in each of the popular cities above? Well, this is another interesting metric – interesting especially for those running businesses there but also giving a hint on how expensive a city is for travelers. Well, from this point of view, Dubai tops MasterCard’s 2018 list with average daily spending of $537. Rounding out the top 5 we find Paris, with an average $301 spent by visitors in a day, Singapore, considered by many one of the most expensive cities in the world, with $286 spent each day, Phuket, with $239, and Palma de Mallorca with $220
Travel trends for 2019
What will the world of travel be like in 2019? Well, there are many experts that have expressed their predictions for this year, and there are some things they have agreed upon. Among others, they expect to see a surge in “mini-vacations”, shorter and more frequent breaks taken by many across 2019. At the same time, slow travel will also continue to grow – this relatively new trend, becoming popular among travelers, sees them staying in a place for longer, picking up the pace, absorbing the local culture and cuisine, and actually breaking out of the rush and routine of everyday life. Finally, a rise in more “meaningful” travel experiences is also expected, where travelers focus on other things than just relaxing while away from home, ranging from activism to fitness, wellness, and learning a new skill.