Paris to lose crown as 'most powerful city destination' in under a decade

The report, sponsored by Visa and researched in partnership with Oxford Economics, analysed key indicators such as travel and tourism’s contribution to a destination’s GDP, employment and traveller spend. 

The French capital was named the city with the strongest travel and tourism sector - worth almost $36bn in 2022 - but the WTTC predicts that although Paris’s tourism value will rise to $49bn, the destination will slip to third place on its list by 2032.

Beijing is currently the second strongest city destination in the world with a travel and tourism sector worth nearly $33bn – and predicted to leapfrog Paris in the coming decade, growing to $77bn.

China’s substantial investment in travel and tourism saw Shanghai’s sector, worth nearly $30bn last year, with the WTTC predicting it to more than double to almost $71bn by 2032 to become the world’s second most powerful city destination.

Las Vegas is the only city in the top 10 list which holds its place in the coming decade - staying as the fifth largest city destination with a tourism sector  worth nearly $23bn in 2022 predicted to grow to more than $36bn by 2032. 
 
Other cities outside the top 10 which the WTTC said were “showing promising  growth” as emerging destinations, included the Polish capital of Warsaw which has seen a 14.4% increase in its GDP contribution in 2022 versus 2019. 
 
Sanya, the Chinese coastal city which has become a popular tourist destination in recent years, witnessed a 10.2% growth during that same period. Its travel and tourism sector represents 43.6% of the city’s total economy, while Macau’s tourism sector represents 40.4% of the city’s total economy.  
 
The top five cities with the biggest international travellers spend in 2022 were: 
 
Dubai - $29.42bn
Doha - $16.79bn
London - $16.07bn
Macau - $15.58bn 
Amsterdam - $13.59bn
Istanbul - $13.13bn
Barcelona - $12.73bn
New York - $12.45bn
Singapore - $10.97bn
Paris - $9.76bn
 
In 2032, the WTTC predicts the top five cities with the largest international traveller spend will change to be:  
 
Hong Kong - $52.06bn (up 38 places from 2022) 
Macau - $43.14bn (up two places from 2022) 
Dubai - $42.98bn (down two places from 2022) 
Singapore - $37.43bn (up five places from 2022) 
Bangkok - $33.45bn (up seven places from 2022) 
Doha - $31.63bn (down four places from 2022) 
Tokyo $25.44bn (up 30 places from 2022) 
New York $21.73bn (no change from 2022) 
Amsterdam $21.53bn (down four places from 2022) 
Shanghai - $21.3bn (up 11 places from 2022)