Fine dining, fine art, and fine fashion are celebrated in Paris. The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has released a new index, and it also names Paris as the most influential tourism city in the world.
In order to determine where tourists were spending the most money, the WTTC, a nonprofit organization for the travel industry with headquarters in the UK, looked at tourism data from 2022.
But more factors than just museum admission and hotel rooms were taken into consideration while compiling the overall ranking of the most effective tourism cities. The level of investment made by regional, state, and federal businesses and governments in these cities’ potential as tourist destinations were the other determining factor.
Take list-topper Paris for example the city is preparing to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. Although fewer than 5% of the facilities will be newly built for the Games, the city is pouring resources into infrastructure, security, and other measures that will help them get ready to host the world. By that accounting, the French capital’s overall tourism total came to $35.6 billion.
Two countries each had three cities on the WTTC list. One was the United States, with Orlando, New York City, and Las Vegas representing the nation.
While each city makes a significant chunk of cash from tourism, they cater to different kinds of travelers — Orlando is popular with families visiting the city’s theme parks, Las Vegas is an internationally known gambling and nightlife hub and New York attracts foodies and art lovers, among others. Of this group, Orlando was the highest earner, raking in $31 billion for 2022. That’s a whole lot of Mickey Mouse ears.
China on the up:
Three Chinese cities — Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou — landed in the top 10 for 2022.
Other Chinese destinations are working their way up the index. In particular, the beach getaway of Sanya — on sunny Hainan Island in southern China — and Macao were cited as places to keep an eye on in the future.
China has invested heavily in tourism and is advertising to international travelers now that its border has reopened. Macao is the only city in China with legal gambling, and it’s easier for most tourists to go there without a visa — unlike the mainland.
The WTTC predicts that by 2032 China will dominate its rankings. “Major cities such as London, Paris, and New York will remain global powerhouses but over the next few years, Beijing, Shanghai, and Macao will be moving up the list of top city destinations,” Julia Simpson, WTTC President & CEO, said in a statement.
Of course, there are more than two countries represented in the WTTC list. Tokyo, Mexico City, and London placed seventh, eighth, and ninth respectively to round out the rankings.
In some ways, it was just as interesting to see who didn’t make it on the list.
Two surprising omissions were in the Middle East, which has skyrocketed in popularity over the past decade.
Although luxury-packed Dubai and soccer World Cup host Doha topped the list of the most amount of tourism revenue, they didn’t score as highly in the other categories and wound up outside the top 10.
Amsterdam, Barcelona, and Singapore also fell victim to the same phenomenon, scoring highly for the amount of money spent by visitors but not landing on the overall “most powerful” list.
Beijing was second only to Paris on the WTTC list.
The world’s most powerful cities for tourism 2023:
1. Paris, France
2. Beijing, China
3. Orlando, Florida
4. Shanghai, China
5. Las Vegas, Nevada
6. New York, New York
7. Tokyo, Japan
8. Mexico City, Mexico
9. London, UK
10. Guangzhou, China
