Mastercard rates city a shopping, dining draw

Bangkok ranks third among the top cities for visitors’ food and beverage spending and sixth for spending on shopping, according the Mastercard’s Global Destination Cities Index (GDCI) 2018. The index ranks 162 cities in terms of total international overnight visitors and the amount spent by them in 2018. The index ranked the Thai capital as the No.1 destination for overnight visitors (for the third consecutive year), with Phuket and Pattaya also in the global top 20 (at 12th and 18th, respectively). Thailand was the only country with three cities in the top 20 global destinations. For the amount spent in destination cities on dining, Dubai ranked first at $US5.94 billion (190 billion baht) or 20% of visitors’ budgets, followed by Palma de Mallorca in Spain with $3.78 billion (31.6% of visitors’ budget) and Bangkok at $3.37 billion, or 20.6%. Singapore and London are also in the top 10 for overall food and beverage spending, but it’s worth noting that travellers are spending a lower percentage of their travel budgets on food in these cities (12.9% and 17.6%, respectively). The GDCI: Indulgences index also revealed that travellers are spending big in Dubai and London when it comes to shopping. Visitors to London, Seoul and Tokyo have spent more than 40% of their travel budgets at the shops. Bangkok, also a world-renowned shopping haven, came in sixth in the category, with visitors spending $3.75 billion on shopping, some 23% of their travel budget. There are eight cities in the top list for dining and seven cities in the top list for shopping that are also a part of the Mastercard Priceless Cities experiential travel platform, where travellers from over 90 countries can access the experience in over 40 cities around the world.