 "A man feeds pigeons outside the Gateway of India and Taj hotel in Mumbai. Photo: PTI")
Mumbai and Chennai have been named among the top 20 tourist destinations in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region, a report said.
The rankings have been based in terms of total number of international overnight arrivals, number of nights spent at each destination and cross-border spending, according to Mastercard Asia Pacific Destinations Index 2017.
Overall, Bangkok remains the most visited in the list of 171 destinations across 22 countries in the APAC region.
Chennai ranked 14 with 5.2 million international overnight arrivals, while Mumbai stood 15 with 4.9 million arrivals.
In terms of total night spent, Mumbai ranked 13, with tourists stayed for 30.7 million nights in 2016, while Chennai was at 15 with 29.6 million nights.
Chennai ranked 13 with an expenditure of $4.6 billion by international tourists. Mumbai was at 15 with $4.4 billion spend.
Overall, overnight arrivals to the 171 APAC destinations in 2016 stood at 339.2 million led by Bangkok, which attracted 19.3 million visitors. Singapore (13.1 million) came second, followed by Tokyo (12.6 million), Seoul (12.4 million) and Kuala Lumpur (11.3 million).
In 2016, visitors to the region stayed for a total of 1,768.7 million nights. Bangkok took the lead with 87.6 million nights followed by Sydney (87.5 million), Kuala Lumpur (76.7 million), Tokyo (74.3 million) and Melbourne (62.9 million).
Overall tourism expenditure in the APAC region stood at $244.9 billion. The top 20 source markets contributed $201.5 billion to the region’s tourism revenues in 2016.
When it comes to overall spending, Singapore attracted the highest spending visitors at $254 per day, followed by Beijing ($242), Shanghai ($234), Hong Kong ($211)) and Taipei ($208).
“This growth provides significant opportunities which governments, tourism bodies, and merchants can benefit from, including greater economic, cultural and infrastructural development.
“To ensure sustainable growth, public and private sectors are working to create more welcoming spaces for visitors and residents alike — as well as more seamless ways to get around destinations,” the report noted.
