BKK will move to #1 in 2013

[firecat69]

According to the Global Destiantion Cities Index BKK will overtake London as the most visited city in the world during 2013.

 

Apparently the rest of the world is discovering what we already know.  BKK is a great city and culture for a very reasonable vacation!

[Guest fountainhall]

As I read the op, I felt it could not be correct. I don't know the numbers for Bangkok, but in terms of overseas tourism, Thailand is still under something like 23 million visitors - and a lot of these tourists do not visit Bangkok (cross-border traffic from Malaysia, for example).

 

The Index comes from Mastercard which suggests Bangkok has 15.98 million visitors and London 15.95 million. In fact, the Index is based not on total visitor numbers but only on international visitor arrivals, So although Las Vegas had a tad under 40 million visitors in 2012 and is well over double the Index numbers for both Bangkok and London, it does not qualify for inclusion. Nor for that matter does Hong Kong which had almost three times the total visitor numbers at 46.6 million in 2012. But Chinese from the mainland don't qualify.

 

Personally I cannot fathom any real reason for not including domestic visitors as well as those from overseas. Seems just another excuse for some PR for Mastercard!

 

http://www.travelbizmonitor.com/bangkok-ranks-first-on-mastercard-global-destination-cities-index-2013-20518

http://www.lvcva.com/includes/content/images/media/docs/ES-YTD20128.pdf

http://www.asiatraveltips.com/news13/291-HongKongVisitorArrivals.shtml

[firecat69]

Actually I think it does exactly what it is supposed to.  It shows how many visitors from outside the country wish to visit a particular city. 

 

60-70% of the visitors to Vegas drive from California.  Doesn't mean much to me.( I lived there for 6 years)  This index shows how many people want to visit a country and get a passport etc and spend a lot of money just getting to the destination in many cases.

 

From that standpoint I think it is quite amazing that BKK is going to be #1 and I am quite amazed.

[Guest fountainhall]

We'll agree to differ! I mentioned two other cities Las Vegas and Hong Kong, and I suggest your argument does not hold up in the case on the latter. Mainland Chinese intending to visit Hong Kong cannot just jump in their cars and drive there. All but a handful need special permits, quite a lot of cash for a flight, and then end up spending a huge amount once they do get there. That's almost more difficult, complex and expensive than, say, a UK visitor having to get a passport and then a cheap flight.

 

Equally important, I'd have thought, is the length of stay and visitor spend per head, but the survey does not include these. A visitor to Hong Kong is projected this year to spend on average just over US$1,000/night. I really cannot believe that Bangkok visitors spend anywhere near that amount on average.

[firecat69]

http://c15210660.r60.cf2.rackcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/MasterCard_Global_Destination_Cities_Index_2012.pdf

 

 

Actually international visitors to BKK spend way more then the same visitors to HKG. Since the statistics reference specifically BKK visitors there is no skewing of the numbers . In fact I find it amazing that HKG is so far down the list on money spent which just strengthens my argument that most visitors to HKG are Chinese and many are there for 2day stop overs during their trip to Macau.  The visit is quite easy for them and hardly speaks to HKG as a international visitor destination.

 

Let's remember that what I find amazing is the attraction of a city to foreign visitors.  Chinese visiting their own city hardly compares especially when a large % of them are doing it on trips to Macau.

 

It would be like comparing Orlando where millions of Americans visit every year.

[fedssocr]

Well, with the growing Chinese middle class looking to travel I think it is not a surprise that a city in Asia would have this distinction.

 

London is too expensive for a lot of people. Add in the UK's onerous taxes on flights and It think London has some high hurdles.

[Guest fountainhall]

I have been through that Paper and i'm sorry, firecat, I still do not agree that it is fair to delete visitors from the mainland to Hong Kong. To the vast majority of those visitors, Hong Kong was until 1997 a foreign country for over 160 years. So a comparison with Americans visiting Orlando is just not valid in my book.
 
If you feel that way, then you also have to root out all the Chinese visiting Taiwan. They go there primarily because it used to be Chinese territory (like Hong Kong) and they have millions of relatives there (as in Hong Kong). But they have to fly there and so they are regarded as international tourists - and Taiwan is included.
 
Also, mainland Chinese find it extremely difficult to visit Hong Kong and Macau on one trip, partly because they need special papers for Macau as well as Hong Kong and there would not be nearly enough sea transport to get the 30 million or so who visit Hong Kong over there. The'd have to reenter China and take a 200 km road journey to enter via Zhuhai. Besides, Macau has less than 25,000 rooms, many taken up by Chinese gamblers who go there just to gamble. Hong Kong has around 65,000 rooms. Macau could not accommodate all the Chinese if they linked both cities in one trip!

 
Lastly, re average visitor spend, I'm sorry again that your statistics are incorrect. According to the Thai and HKG Tourism Authorities, the figures for 2011 are quite clear - 
 
Average Stay (2011 figures)
Bangkok - 10+ nights
Hong Kong - 3.6 nights
 
Visitor Spending per capita per day (2011 figures)
Bangkok - Bt. 4,187
Hong Kong - HKG 7333 = Bt. 28,680*
 
I accept that the wording is not clear in the HK report. However, even if this is total spend over the 3.6 days, the per day spend would still be a lot higher than Bangkok at Bt. 7,7677. When you think about it, the cost of living in Hong Kong is higher than Bangkok and so average nightly spend has to be higher! 

http://www.ttrweekly.com/site/2012/11/thailands-tourism-receipts-rise/
http://www.tourism.gov.hk/english/statistics/statistics_perform.html

[firecat69]

Let's face it your last paragraph is why amount of money spent means nothing.  Of course more money is spent in HKG but only because everything is so much more expensive then BKK. .

 

Likewise you could change the statistic to how much that money spent is as a % of the GDP in that city and I am sure BKK would once again be far more effected by those dollars then HKG.  

 

And that even allowing for your argument that Chinese are international visitors to HGK which I don't for a moment agree with.

 

The very essence of these statistics are that BKK is gaining international visitors at a faster pace then many of the competing cities. And of course one of the reasons this is happening is that BKK gives you a lot more for your money then the competing cities.