City set for record of most overnight foreign visitors: Times of India

London: Mumbai raked in a whopping $3.3 billion from visitors who stayed overnight in the city in 2015, making it the fourth most lucrative market in the Asia Pacific for overseas spenders. Bangkok in Thailand saw the highest visitor spend in the region in 2015--$12.4 billion followed by Taipei ($9.3 billion) and Tokyo ($8.4 billion).

As many as 4.75 million people have till now stayed overnight in Mumbai in 2015 --all set to record the highest number of international visi tors who stopped by in the city in the past five years with almost half a year to go before year end. Mumbai in 2011 recorded the highest number of overnight international visitors-4.82 million.

With data going back to 2009, the Global Destination Cities Index charts how 132 of the most important cities in the world are connected through air travel--how many international visitors arrive at each of these 132 cities from the other cities and how much these visitors spend during their visit. The only year that Mumbai saw a major dip in overnight tourists over the past five years was in 2012 when it recorded just 2.65 million international overnight visitors. In almost every other year, the city has had over 4 million such tourists.

In 2015, it is expected that 382.9 million trips will be made by international visitors by air between the 132 cities covered by the Index, spending a total of $360 billion during their visits.

London is the world's top-ranked destination city with 18.82 million international visitors expected in 2015, slightly ahead of the second-ranked Bangkok with 18.24 million. London has topped the Index in five out of seven years, except 2012 and 2013, when Bangkok held the lead position.They are followed by Paris, Dubai, Istanbul, New York, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Seoul and Hong Kong in the world top 10.

Overall, nine European cities have each claimed a spot in the top 20 destination cities by international overnight visitors as follows: Barcelona (12th), Amsterdam (13th), Rome (14th), Milan (15th), Vienna (18th) and Prague (19th).

Interestingly, Colombo has emerged as the fastest growing market with a 21.1% increase in overnight stays. Chengdu in China is the second fastest growing, with a growth rate of 20.7%.

According to the Index, the “prerequisite for any destination city that aspires to attract more international visitors is to increase the capacity of its airports and frequency of flight connections between the airport and the rest of the world.