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Monday, 18th June 2012
In Japan Travel News,
Visitors flocking to Tokyo
Tokyo has a reputation for being one of the most popular cities in the world for travellers, and as the Japanese capital with a unique and incredible metropolitan culture this is hardly surprising.
But now a new study has revealed just how popular the city is, with figures revealing it to be the second-fastest growing city in the world in terms of visitor numbers.
According to the MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index, the number of visitors touching down in Tokyo will increase by 21.5 per cent this year; second only to Rio de Janeiro which will see visitor numbers grow by 28.6 per cent.
A total of 4.3 million people are set to visit Tokyo in 2012, with the research forecasting that these visitors will spend a combined $9.9 billion during their stays.
In terms of money spent by visitors, Tokyo was ranked 6th in Asia Pacific, behind Bangkok, Singapore, Sydney, Seoul and Taipei.
The figures demonstrate the growing popularity of the Asia Pacific region as a whole, with the region's top ten city destinations expected to see an average 9.5 per cent increase in visitor arrivals this year.
"Asia's destination cities continue their rise, expecting a significant upward trend in visitor arrivals and cross-border spend - most of them on the back of large double digit growth," remarked Dr Yuwa Hedrick-Wong, MasterCard Worldwide's global economic advisor.
"The leading Asian cities are some of the most sought after destinations for visitors from all over the world, and the Index indicates that they will continue to thrive into 2012."
Dr Hedrick-Wong also revealed that researchers had noticed a significant increase in the number of travellers making cashless payments using contactless cards or mobile phones.
He concluded that the trend was in response to an increasing demand for simple and safe payments among leisure and business travellers.
Written by Mark Smith