World’s ‘most powerful’ resort town revealed

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CNN

Paris is a city loved for good food, fine art, and good fashion.

But a new index from the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) also says that Paris is the most powerful tourist city in the world.

The WTTC, a UK-based non-profit travel industry body, analyzed tourism data for the year 2022 to see where travelers were spending the most money.

However, the overall list of the most powerful tourist cities did not only take into account museum tickets and hotel rooms. The other factor was how much local and national governments and businesses are investing in these cities as tourist destinations.

Take Paris, which tops the list, for example: the city is preparing to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. Although less than 5% of the facilities will be newly built for the Games, the city is investing resources in infrastructure, security and other measures that will help you prepare to host the world.

According to that accounting, total tourism in the French capital reached 35.6 billion dollars.

So who else made the list?

Two countries each had three cities on the WTTC list. One was the United States, with Orlando, New York City, and Las Vegas representing the nation.

While each city makes a lot of money from tourism, they cater to different types of travelers: Orlando is popular with families who visit the city’s theme parks, Las Vegas is an internationally renowned gambling and nightlife hub, and New York attracts foodies and art lovers. among others.

Of this group, Orlando was the top earner, raking in $31 billion by 2022. That’s a lot of Mickey Mouse ears.

Three Chinese cities — Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou — made it into the top 10 for 2022.

Other Chinese destinations are moving up the index. In particular, the beach getaway of Sanya, on the sunny southern Chinese island of Hainan, and Macau were cited as places to look out for in the future.

China has invested heavily in tourism and is advertising to international travelers now that its border has reopened. Macau is the only city in China with legal gambling, and for most tourists it’s easier to go there without a visa, unlike on the mainland.

The WTTC predicts that by 2032 China will dominate its ranking.

“Major cities like London, Paris, and New York will remain global powers, but in the coming years, Beijing, Shanghai, and Macau will move up the list of top city destinations,” Julia Simpson, president and CEO of WTTC, said in a statement. a declaration.

Of course, there are more than two countries represented on the WTTC list. Tokyo, Mexico City and London placed seventh, eighth and ninth respectively to complete the ranking.

In some ways, it was just as interesting to see who wasn’t on the list.

Two surprising omissions occurred in the Middle East, whose popularity has skyrocketed over the past decade.

Although luxury-packed Dubai and soccer World Cup host Doha topped the list for the most tourism receipts, they didn’t score as highly in the other categories and finished outside the top 10.

Amsterdam, Barcelona and Singapore also fell victim to the same phenomenon, scoring highly for the amount of money spent by visitors, but not making the overall “most powerful” list.

Beijing was ranked second after Paris on the WTTC list.

one. Paris France

2. Beijing, China

3. Orlando, Florida

Four. Shanghai, China

5. The Vegas, Nevada

6. New York, New York

7. Tokyo Japan

8. Mexico City, Mexico

9. London, United Kingdom

10 Guangzhou, China

Source: news.google.com