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Colombo, Sri Lanka

Colombo leads the pack as the fastest growing city in terms of international, overnight visitor numbers in the annual MasterCard Global Destinations Cities Index.

The rapid rise in tourism after the end of Sri Lanka’s long running civil war brought about Colombo’s double-digit cumulative annual growth rate over the last six years.

Seven of the top ten fastest growing cities by visitor number over this period are in Asia, the www.lankaweb.com website reports.

Forecasted top ten fastest growing cities:

1. Colombo, Sri Lanka – 21.1 %

2. Chengdu, China – 20.7 %

3. Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates – 20.4%

4. Osaka, Japan – 19.8%

5. Riyadh, Saudi-Arabia – 18.0%

6. Xi An, China – 16.2%

7. Taipei, Taiwan – 14.9%

8. Tokyo, Japan – 14.6%

9. Lima, Peru – 13.9%

10.Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam – 12.9%

In addition, Asian cities continue to dominate of the Index, making up half of the top ten. Bangkok has retained its position at number twowith 18.24 million international overnight visitors and is catching up with top-ranked city, London. Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Seoul and Hong Kong round off the top ten, taking seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth place respectively.Forecasted international overnight visitors tothe top ten cities:

1. London, United Kingdom – 18.82 million

2.Bangkok, Thailand – 18.24 million

3. Paris, France – 16.06 million

4. Dubai, United Arab Emirates – 14.26 million

5. Istanbul, Turkey – 12.56 million

6. New York, USA – 12.27 million

7. Singapore – 11.88 million

8. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – 11.12 million

9. Seoul, South Korea – 10.35 million

10.Hong Kong – 8.66 million

Driven by insights into travel patterns, the Global Destinations CitiesIndex provides a ranking of the 132 most visited cities from around the world. More than just a travel tracker, the Index provides an understanding of how people move around the world and the importance of the world?s cities as homes, destinations and engines of growth.

Report in full can be downloaded from here: http://news.mstr.cd/1BGlGSw

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