Each year Mastercard published their Global Destination Cities Index. The study now in its ninth year, ranks the most visited cities by the number of overnight stays by international visitors. Here are the results for 2016.

The Top Ten Most Visited Cities

1. Bangkok

With 19.41 million visitors, Bangkok has been number one since 2012 when it overtook Paris.

2. London

London narrowly overtook Paris in 2014, with 19.06 million it is now comfortably ahead of its Gallic neighbour

3. Paris

Despite a further drop, former champion Paris remains in third with 15.45 million

4. Dubai

At 14.87 million, it is looking to overtake Paris soon. By money spent, it’s comfortably in the lead

5. Singapore

City State Singapore has breezed past The USA’s contender New York with 13.11 million visitors

6. New York

Despite growing to 12.70 million visitors, as mentioned above it has dropped a place

7. Seoul

The third city in this close bunch, Seoul saw an increase to 12.39 million

8. Kuala Lumpur

Also in the bunch is Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur with 11.28 million

9. Tokyo

Tokyo completes the bunch with 11.15 million

10. Istanbul

Trailing behind is Istanbul with 9.16 million

Other Notables

Barcelona and Amsterdam both miss out on a top ten place with 8.36 million each

In Italy, the spoils are shared by Milan (8.17) and Rome (7.09)

No German city features in Europe’s top ten

Vienna welcomed 6.42 million

Dublin lies at number ten in Europe with 5.51 million behind Prague with 6.11 million

Johannesburg with 4.57 million beat its South African rival Cape Town with 1.52 million

Miami with 5.86 million puts it just ahead of Los Angeles with 5.68 million in the USA

Toronto was Canada’s top ranker with 4.99 million