Paris, the City of Love, is also the most powerful city for tourism, according to a recent index by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC). The WTTC, a nonprofit travel industry body, analyzed 2022 tourism data to see where travelers were spending the most money. The index not only took museum tickets and hotel rooms into account, but also how much local and national governments and businesses are investing in these cities as tourist destinations.
Paris topped the list with a total tourism income of $35.6 billion. The city is preparing to host the 2024 Summer Olympics, investing resources into infrastructure, security, and other measures to get ready to welcome the world.
The United States had three cities on the WTTC list: Orlando, New York City, and Las Vegas. Orlando earned the most money with $31 billion, drawing families to its theme parks. Las Vegas is an internationally known gambling and nightlife spot, while New York City attracts foodies and art lovers.
China also had three cities on the list: Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. With its border reopening, China has invested heavily in tourism and is advertising to international travelers. Additionally, the beach getaway of Sanya on Hainan Island and Macao, the only city in China with legal gambling, are predicted to rise in the index in the near future.
Two countries that didn’t make the list, yet have become popular destinations in the last decade, are the Middle East. Dubai and Doha, although having the highest amount of revenue, didn’t score as highly in other categories and thus didn’t make it to the top 10. Amsterdam, Barcelona and Singapore also scored high in amount of money spent by visitors, but didn’t make the “most powerful” list.
The WTTC list of most powerful cities for tourism in 2022 is as follows: Paris, France; Beijing, China; Orlando, Florida; Shanghai, China; Las Vegas, Nevada; New York, New York; Tokyo, Japan; Mexico City, Mexico; London, UK; and Guangzhou, China.
Source by https://wttc.org/