London is the world’s most popular capital – again
By Natalie Paris

London has cause to celebrate as it expects to be crowned the world’s most popular city again this year, beating Paris

By the end of the year, London is expected to have clocked up 18.82 million overnight-stays

It is the fifth time in seven years that England’s capital has lay claim to the title, based on projected visitor numbers for 2015. It was also found to have the most visitors last year.

The popularity contest between capitals is often highly contentious, with London, arch rivals Paris and, in recent years Bangkok, all vying for, and frequently claiming top spot.

By the end of the year, London is expected to have clocked up 18.82 million overnight-stay, overseas visitors, putting it at the top of a 132-city table.
Bangkok, with 18.24 million over-night stay visitors projected, is in second place, with Paris third and Dubai fourth.

Paris is expected to be the third most-visited city this year

The list of popular cities, compiled by MasterCard, was welcomed by the mayor Boris Johnson.

“I’m delighted that London has proudly held on to this coveted title, as we celebrate another triumphant and record-breaking year for tourism in the city,” he said.

“With London’s unrivalled mix of history, culture, culinary gems and cutting-edge creativity, I’m confident that these accolades will keep coming as the capital continues to surprise and excite visitors from all over the world.”

Europe now has three of the top five most popular cities, London, Paris and Istanbul, with Bangkok and Dubai making up the global top five. Overall, nine European cities have each claimed a spot in the top 20 destination cities judged on the number of international overnight visitors, as follows: Barcelona (12th), Amsterdam (13th), Rome (14th), Milan (15th), Vienna (18th) and Prague (19th).

Visitors to London are set to spend £13.3 billion in 2015, as international travellers making 382.9 million visits by air to the world’s top 132 cities, will collectively spend £236 billion.

Figures for 2013 placed London ahead of Paris with 16.8 million international arrivals to Paris’s 15.2 million.
This result, which prompted Mr Johnson to claim at the time that London “is without doubt the greatest city on the planet”, riled the French so much that Anne Hidalgo, mayor of Paris, responded by describing London as a “suburb” of Paris that is less safe and less attractive for families.

• London vs Paris: which is better?

These are the top 10 cities based on the expected number of foreign visitors making overnight-stay trips this year:
1. London 18.82 million visitors
2. Bangkok 18.24 million
3. Paris 16.06 million
4. Dubai 14.26 million
5. Istanbul 12.56 million
6. New York 12.27 million
7. Singapore 11.88 million
8. Kuala Lumpur 11.12 million
9. Seoul 10.35 million
10. Hong Kong 8.66 million