Not everyone want to stay off the beaten path when they ’re travel . Sometimes , you need to see what all the tizzy is about . If that ’s you , look no further than MasterCard ’s annual Global Destination Cities Index , a ranking of the 162 most - visited cities across the entire world . This yr ’s list , spotted byLonely Planet , also include data on how much the ordinary all-night visitor to position like Bangkok ( this yr ’s No . 1 destination ) and London ( No . 2 ) spends there per 24-hour interval of their trip .

Below are the top 10 most - visited destination fit in to the rankings , including how many people visited for at least a nighttime in 2017 and the medium money they spent per day they were there . ( Despite its origins , the rankings are free-base on touristry numbers , not data from MasterCard transactions . )

1 . Bangkok : 20 million visitant a yr ( $ 173 per day)2 . London : 19.8 million visitor a year ( $ 153 per day)3 . Paris : 17.4 million visitors a year ( $ 301 per day)4 . Dubai : 15.8 million visitors a year ( $ 537 per day)5 . Singapore : 13.9 million visitors a twelvemonth ( $ 286 per day)6 . New York : 13.1 million visitors a year ( $ 147 per day)7 . Kuala Lumpur : 12.6 million visitors a year ( $ 124 per day)8 . Tokyo : 11.9 million visitors a year ( $ 154 per day)9 . Istanbul : 10.7 million visitant a class ( $ 108 per day)10 . Seoul : 9.5 million visitant a class ( $ 181 per day )

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Five of the top finish city are settle in East Asia , two in the Middle East , two in Europe , and one in the United States . Cost does n’t seem to be a deciding cistron in many visit — Paris , Dubai , and Singapore all make the top five , though they ’re also the most expensive metropolis among the top 10 .

The fact that Asian destinations see so much visitor traffic is n’t terribly surprising considering that East Asia has the fastest - growing touristry diligence in the world . According toThe Economist , a after part of the world ’s tourists lead to Asia and the Pacific each year . A good portion of the world ’s tourists come from within Asia , too — thanks in part to rise incomes , Formosan touristsin finicky spend more money traveling the world than anyone else , and answer for for 21 percent of the existence ’s outward-bound tourists .

If any of these destinations offend your interest , chink outsomeof ourtravel - planningtips to help get youritinerarysettled . And if your meat is set on heading to Dubai , by all means , check out our guidebook to couch together anaffordable holiday .

[ h / tLonely Planet ]