Euromonitors’ ‘Top 100 City Destinations’ 2019 report reveals that Amsterdam is more popular than Barcelona and Berlin and is the 25th most visited city in the world. Are we surprised? Not really. Do we care? Yes, because Amsterdam suffers greatly from overtourism.
What constitutes a “visitor”
The report assessed over 400 cities to conclude what the top 100 most visited cities based on international arrivals were. “Arrivals” were defined as anyone who stayed in a city for a minimum of 24 hours but no more than 12 months.
Arrivals did not include “domestic travellers, same-day visitors, people in transit and cruise passengers as this can distort arrivals figures”.
Download the 'Top 100 City Destinations: 2019 Edition' to discover what makes the most popular cities in the world so, well, popular: https://t.co/I5Eo57lYs4 #Travel #TravelTuesday #TTOT pic.twitter.com/GnbqiznSBS
— Euromonitor (@Euromonitor) December 3, 2019
Europe’s top destinations
Europe has the most inbound arrivals in the world in comparison to other continents but intra-regional travel is still responsible for most of the tourism within Europe.
Amsterdam attracted 8,354,2000 visitors in 2018 but this increased by nearly 6 percent in just one year. By the end of the year, 8,835,4000 visitors are predicted.
London is the most visited city in Europe (but do we even consider Britain as “Europe” anymore?). Amidst Brexit uncertainty, the number of inbound arrivals to London slightly decreased in 2018. Paris is the second most visited city in Europe and Istanbul is third. Amsterdam just pipped Barcelona to seventh place and Vienna ranked tenth.
Top destinations globally
If Amsterdammers are feeling frustrated by tourism, then perhaps they need only look at Hong Kong, the most visited city in the world was, which nearly 30 million tourists descended upon in 2018. But of course it is relative, as Hong Kong is more than quadruple the size of Amsterdam.
Bangkok and London came in second and third place. Amsterdam ranked 25th on this list with Paris and Prague being the only other European cities that were more visited than the Dutch capital.
The top 100 cities account for nearly 47% of all global arrivals and this is set to only increase.
Are you one of the few people who have not visited Amsterdam? Congratulations! You are helping spread the tourism out.
Feature image: Ralf Gervink/Pixabay
