FOR the fourth time in a row, Bangkok was ranked as the top destination for international overnight visitors. According to the Mastercard Global Destination Cities Index (GDCI), this was also the sixth time Bangkok clinched the top spot in the past decade. In fact, three cities from Thailand – Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket made it to the list of top 20 international overnight visitor destinations, while Bangkok and Phuket were among the top 10 for spending by international overnight visitors. Reports in The Bangkok Post revealed that annual international overnight visitors spent more than US$20 billion in Bangkok, a 15 per cent increase from 2017, while in Phuket they spent more than $12 billion, a 9 per cent increase year-on-year. Visitors from Germany topped island destinations such as Phangnga (25.1%), Koh Samui (17.1%), Koh Tao (11.4%) and Koh Chang (11.3%).

Source: New Strait Times October 22, 2019 09:00 UTC