The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
Hong Kong earns top spot in annual ranking of world’s most-visited cities
Hong Kong is the most-visited city in the world, according to a study of international arrival numbers. The autonomous territory in south-east China welcomed 26million visitors in 2015, the most recent statistics show, earning it top spot in Euromonitor’s annual ranking of the planet’s most popular urban destinations. It assumed the No 1 position despite a four per cent fall in visitors compared to 2014.
Second was Bangkok, which had 18.8 million international tourist arrivals, while London took third spot, with 18.6million. Both cities saw large increases the previous year, with 10 per cent and seven per cent growth respectively.
Euromonitor’s report said Hong Kong is facing increasing difficulty to “maintain its attractiveness, especially among younger Chinese travellers”. However, recent figures from the city’s tourist board show that more Britons are visiting, up six per cent last year to 45,000.
Lee Cobaj, Telegraph Travel’s south-east Asia expert based in Hong Kong, said travellers from the UK will always have an affection for the former British colony. “The tourist board has done a great job over the past couple of years of promoting Hong Kong’s broader appeal,” she said.
“It’s not just a metropolis with top shopping and sensational food, but also a destination with terrific hiking, golden beaches, atmospheric temples, a thriving arts scene and a strong cultural identity.”
She added that direct flights from Manchester and London Gatwick, launched last year, will help more Britons visit Hong Kong, with plans for further routes in the pipeline this year.
The Euromonitor rankings, released on Thursday, also showed the beginnings of damage to Paris’s travel appeal. It registered a small fall in arrivals for the year, but is still ranked fifth (behind Singapore at fourth). The November attacks in 2015 precipitated a miserable year for the French capital’s tourism industry.
Similarly, Antalya in Turkey saw a 5.5 per cent fall, while the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt lost 7.5 per cent of its visitors.
However, the report was good news for Tokyo, which welcomed 35 per cent more visitors in 2015, up to 8.5million. The Japanese capital will have seen its fortune continue last year as it remained good value for British travellers, with the pound holding against the yen. Osaka and Kyoto also saw large increases.
Spain, Greece and Italy saw a surge in visitors, as travellers moved away from France, as well as Turkey and Tunisia, because of security concerns. Venice, Milan and Athens all registered double-digit growth.
In the US, New York was the mostvisited destination, coming in ninth overall, with 12.3million arrivals.
Dr Wouter Geerts, travel analyst at Euromonitor, said 2015 had been “another turbulent year. Terrorist attacks, geopolitical conflicts, economic uncertainty, and health scares including MERS and Zika were just some of the factors impacting city arrivals.”