Bangkok bumped London to become the second most-visited city in 2015 while Hong Kong, despite registering lower arrival numbers than the preceding period, maintained its stronghold as the top city destination in the world.
Those are among some of the conclusions out of a new report from international market research group Euromonitor, which looked at the final incoming travel data for the year 2015 to compile their "Top 100 Cities Destinations Ranking."
Throughout 2015, Hong Kong received 26.7 million international visitors, bagging the title of most-visited city for the seventh consecutive year. That's even after experiencing a 4 percent dip in visits that year.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong's loss appears to have been Bangkok's gain in 2015, as the Thai capital saw a 10 percent growth in arrivals, nudging the city into second spot past London.
That doesn't mean the numbers for London were bad. International arrivals to the British capital also rose seven percent in 2015 compared to the previous year.
The city also remained the top European city destination, outpacing its nearest rival Paris which suffered the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attacks earlier that year.
Researchers also noted the impressive growth of Japanese cities: Osaka leapfrogged an impressive 27 spot landing in 55th place, while Kyoto also rose 11 spots.
The city that is considered the birthplace of geisha culture and home to more than 1,000 Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, also got a boost by Travel + Leisure magazine, which named Kyoto the world's best city of 2015 in the summer, based on reader votes.
Tokyo jumped six places to rank 17th.
In the Americas, New York was the most popular destination throughout 2015, while Peru got a nine percent boost in visitors thanks to its growing reputation as a culinary destination.
And in the Middle East, Dubai was the top performer, recording an eight percent increase in international arrivals.
Here are the world's top 10 cities for 2015:
1. Hong Kong
2. Bangkok, Thailand
3. London, UK
4. Singapore
5. Paris, France
6. Macau
7. Dubai, United Arab Emirates
8. Istanbul, Turkey
9. New York, US
10. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
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