23 July, 2019

Mainland China and US Continue to Drive Global Travel

Mastercard’s Global Destination Cities Index: Origins Reveals Mainland China Is a Huge Mover Among Markets with Most International Travellers

Mainland Chinese are travelling overseas for business and leisure in greater numbers than ever before, and Mastercard’s newest edition of its Global Destination Cities Index continues to bear this out. Special report Global Destination Cities Index: Origins, released today, turns its lens on where international travellers originate. Mainland China has jumped from No. 7 in 2009 to No. 2 today, behind only the United States in terms of the number of travellers to overseas destinations.


Mastercard’s Global Destination Cities Index: Origins specifically ranks where the most people travel internationally from, and their top destinations.  Globally, the industry contributed a record US$8.8 trillion and 319 million jobs in 2018, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council – and insights like these can help shape local decision-making on how to best attract and serve travellers from around the world.

This year, the United States is the No. 1 origin market followed by mainland China, Germany, the United Kingdom and France. Travel from across Asia-Pacific also surged; the Republic of Korea and Taiwan, which were not in the top 10 a decade ago, rose to No. 6 and No. 10 respectively. The top origin markets are:

United States of America
Mainland China
Germany
United Kingdom
France
Republic of Korea
Japan
Canada
Russian Federation
Taiwan


“Mastercard’s Global Destination Cities Index: Origins offers a new way for local officials and companies to see how travellers spend at destinations, providing them with better insights on how to plan and promote travel and tourism capabilities,” says Diana Robino, senior vice president, tourism partnerships for Mastercard. “Managed well, travel and tourism can be a catalyst for inclusive growth, benefiting both visitors and all communities in the destinations. Mastercard is committed to using its expertise and technology to help cities and destinations realize these opportunities.”

Mastercard acts as a key technology partner for the global travel and tourism industry, providing solutions that bundles data insights as our Tourism Insights platform, digital identity, payment and security solutions, visitor management and infrastructure consulting in order to solve for the needs of a destination. Simply put, Mastercard helps tourism partners better understand commerce patterns and deliver more connected and inclusive experiences.

Addressing the challenges of global tourism is too big a task for one organization, industry or government alone. Bringing together resources from across disciplines and sectors – public and private – produces new innovation and more sustainable solutions, made possible by a 360-degree view of the issues at hand.

Origins is a breakout report of the broader Global Destination Cities Index, with full rankings coming out later this year.

About the Mastercard Global Destination Cities Index

The Mastercard Global Destination Cities Index ranks 200 cities based on third-party research and proprietary analysis in terms of the number of their total international overnight visitor arrivals and the cross-border spending by these same visitors in the destination cities in 2018, and gives visitor and passenger growth forecasts.

Top Destinations for Origins is obtained by summing together all the overnight visits of origin market residents to each destination covered by the overall Mastercard Global Destination Cities Index.

Mainland China Origin figures do not count travel numbers and expenditure in Hong Kong SAR and Macau SAR.



Top Destination Cities by Origin
RANKORIGINCITY 1CITY 2CITY 3
1United States of AmericaCancun, MexicoToronto, CanadaLondon, U.K.
2Mainland ChinaBangkok, ThailandSeoul, Republic of KoreaTokyo, Japan
3GermanyPalma de Mallorca, SpainBolzano, ItalyTiroler Unterland, Austria
4United KingdomPalma de Mallorca, SpainParis, FranceDublin, Ireland
5FranceLondon, EnglandMarrakech, MoroccoBarcelona, Spain
6Republic of KoreaOsaka, JapanHokkaido, JapanTokyo, Japan
7JapanTaipei, TaiwanSeoul, Republic of KoreaBangkok, Thailand
8CanadaWashington D.C., U.S.A.Las Vegas, U.S.A.New York, U.S.A.
9Russian FederationAntalya, TurkeyPattaya, ThailandPhuket, Thailand
10TaiwanTokyo, JapanHokkaido, JapanOkinawa, Japan

Top Destinations by Origin
RANKORIGINDESTINATION 1DESTINATION 2DESTINATION 3
1United States of AmericaMexicoCanadaItaly
2Mainland ChinaThailandJapanUnited States of America
3GermanyItalySpainAustria
4United KingdomSpainUnited States of AmericaIndia
5FranceSpainUnited States of AmericaUnited Kingdom
6Republic of KoreaJapanMainland ChinaVietnam
7JapanUnited States of AmericaMainland ChinaTaiwan
8CanadaUnited States of AmericaMexicoIndia
9Russian FederationTurkeyThailandTunisia
10TaiwanJapanRepublic of KoreaThailand

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