Hong Kong remains the world's most visited city

The city registered 25.7 million arrivals this year.

Hong Kong clinches the top spot in a list of most visited cities in the world for the second time in a row, according to Euromonitor International’s top 100 city destinations.

Despite registering a slight 3.2% decrease from last year’s 26.5 million arrivals as relations with mainland China went under some strain, the report notes that growth will soon pick up again for the city in the next seven years.

Hong Kong is projected to register 31.2 million inbound arrivals by 2020 and 44.06 million by 2025.

A great part of Hong Kong’s continued appeal to domestic and foreign visitors lies in its effort to keep up with technological innovations in its bid to become a smart city, the report noted. These efforts include Hong Kong’s Octopus Card, one of the world’s first contactless smart cards that enables users to pay for public transport and dine in various shops and restaurants.

Bangkok secures second place in the top city destinations list, registering 23.3 million arrivals, whilst London landed third with 19.2 million arrivals. Meanwhile, Singapore clinched the fourth spot with 17.62 million arrivals.

The report noted the vast potential of the Asia Pacific region in changing the travel landscape with the domination of Asian cities in the top 10 (6 out of 10) and the overall inclusion of 41 Asian cities in this year’s report.

“Asia Pacific is the standout region driving change in travel. We expect the region to continue growing in the coming decade with Singapore overtaking London as the third most visited city in the world by 2025, giving the podium fully to Asia,” said Wouter Geerts, senior travel analyst at Euromonitor International.