Paris tops London for visitors

For the first time in over a decade Paris has edged out London for the title of most-visited city in Europe for 2018, but it's still way behind Bangkok, the world leader for many years.

Paris's victory was a near thing, with 19.1 foreign visitors to London's 19.09 way behind Bangkok's 22.78 milion. The figures come from Mastercard's annual Global Cities Index. For London, the figure is a 3.7% drop from 2017; for Paris it represented at 9.7% increase. London can comfort itself with the thought that visitors to the British capital spent more than visitors to Paris.

From the Index:

Cities with most visitors

1. Bangkok, Thailand
2. Paris, France
3. London, UK
4. Dubai, UAE
5. Singapore, Singapore
6. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
7. New York, USA
8. Istanbul, Turkey
9. Tokyo, Japan
10. Antalya, Turkey

Cities with highest visitor spending

1. Dubai, UAE
2. Makkah, Saudi Arabia
3. Bangkok, Thailand
4. Singapore, Singapore
5. London, UK
6. New York, USA
7. Paris, France
8. Tokyo, Japan
9. Palma de Mallorca, Spain
10. Phuket, Thailand