Release of the World Tourism Cities Development Report (2024-2025) by Mr. István Ujhelyi, WTCF Expert, UN Tourism Ambassador

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great honor to release the World Tourism Cities Development Report 2024-2025 on behalf of the World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF).

This report is an annual flagship publication of the WTCF, and has been published for 11 consecutive years.

It summarizes the development trends of the global tourism industry and presents a development overview of world tourism cities in 2024 and 2025. With a global panel of 100 sample cities as its constant focus, the report conducts a scientific ranking of them based on the Comprehensive Evaluation Index on the Development of World Tourism Cities, delves into their development patterns, and proposes actionable solutions, so as to contribute to the sustainable development of world tourism cities.

The report consists of three main parts:

1. The Comprehensive Evaluation on the development of World Tourism Cities in 2024 and 2025.

2. The Overall Ranking of World Tourism Cities Development in 2024 and 2025.

3. The Six Individual-Dimension Rankings of World Tourism Cities Development in 2024 and 2025.

Part 1: Comprehensive Evaluation on the Development of World Tourism Cities in 2024 and 2025

Since 2024, the global tourism industry has achieved a milestone recovery, presenting a pattern of "slow growth and structural differentiation". Despite multiple blows dealt to the global economy, it has shown strong resilience on the whole.

Benefiting from the strong performance in major global source markets, the sustained recovery of tourist destinations in the Asia-Pacific region, continuously improved air connectivity, and the ongoing implementation of visa facilitation policies and measures, the global tourism industry has seen upturns on all aspects and is moving rapidly towards high-end, personalized, and sustainable directions.

1. The global tourism industry maintains a strong recovery momentum. In 2024, global total tourist arrivals reached a total of 14.2 billion, a year-on-year increase of 13.8%. Global tourism revenue hit USD 6.1 trillion, the equivalent of 104.1% of that in 2019, accounting for 5.7% of global GDP.

2. Global international tourism revenue leads in growth rate, while domestic tourism takes the lead in scale. International tourism revenue worldwide grows at a rate of 6.3%, compared with 2.5% for domestic tourism revenue. Meanwhile, international tourism expenditure reached USD 1.89 trillion, and domestic tourism expenditure reached USD 5.4 trillion, both setting new records.

Part 2: Overall Ranking of World Tourism Cities Development in 2024 and 2025

From 2024 to 2025, the Federation has continued to monitor and observe 100 representative major tourist cities. Among them, 67 are WTCF member cities and 33 are non-member cities. Through historical comparison, an overall development ranking of these 100 cities is conducted.

We have specifically developed the Evaluation Index on the Development of World Tourism Cities, which consists of six dimensions: City Popularity, Industry Prosperity, City Intelligence, Tourism Safety, Economic Contribution, and Tourist Satisfaction. This index incorporates 32 sub-indices and 61 component indicators. The indicator weights are determined through the Delphi method by WTCF experts, ensuring the evaluation accurately reflects the latest trends in the tourism industry.

Based on the analysis and ranking using the comprehensive development index, WTCF has released the overall ranking list of world tourism cities development in 2024 and 2025.

According to the ranking, the top three tourist cities for 2024-2025 are New York, Tokyo, and Paris. Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong of China rank 7th, 9th and 11th, respectively, with Beijing moving up one spot from its ranking last year. Among the top 20 cities, 8 are from the Asia-Pacific region, 5 from the Americas, 5 from Europe, 2 from the Middle East, and no cities from Africa made the list.

Based on the overall list and changes in the rankings over the past three years, new characteristics in the development of world tourism cities have emerged.

1. Asian tourist cities have led the world in growth rate of inbound tourists, with their comprehensive rankings steadily rising.

As China continues to optimize its entry policies, the recovery of inbound tourism has been accelerated. Measures such as expanding visa-free access and extending stay durations have significantly promoted the rebound of inbound tourists in major cities like Beijing and Shanghai. Japan's tourism market, influenced by the continuously weak Yen and an increase in Chinese visitors, has maintained its top ranking. Driven by major countries like China and Japan, Asia has become the fastest-growing region in global tourism recovery.

2. European tourism has demonstrated robust growth, driven by dual engines of intra-regional demand and major international events.

Large-scale international sporting events such as the UEFA European Championship and the Paris Olympics have been core drivers of tourism growth in Europe, while intra-regional travel demand continues to underpin the recovery and expansion of the European tourism market. Noticeably, American and Chinese tourists have emerged as key source groups fueling Europe's tourism growth. The continuously strong US dollar has significantly enhanced the real purchasing power of American tourists in Europe.

3. Tourism growth in the Middle East has slowed down, with destination divergence intensifying.

Among the top 20 cities in the overall ranking, Middle Eastern tourist cities occupy only 2 spots. The high base effect has weakened the region's growth momentum in the tourism industry. International events such as the World Snooker Tour and the Formula Trophy UAE were hosted in the region in 2024, however, their overall impact was less significant compared to global events like the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and the Expo 2020 Dubai in 2021, resulting in a relatively limited boost to tourist growth.

Competition for tourism resources within the region has intensified, showing a trend of destination divergence. Dubai, a traditionally dominant tourist city, saw a decline in the 2024 comprehensive ranking, as its tourism model—centered on shopping, luxury hotels, and large-scale events—now faces pressure for transformation. In contrast, emerging destinations like Istanbul have become new growth engines thanks to their distinctive cultures and high cost-effectiveness. Furthermore, uncertainties arising from geopolitical and security situations have, to a certain extent, restrained tourists' willingness to travel.

4. The Americas boast strong domestic tourism demand, yet its recovery of international tourist arrivals remains weak.

The U.S. tourism market is increasingly reliant on domestic demand, driving overall growth in the Americas through a spillover effect. In 2024, domestic tourism consumption in the US accounted for nearly 90% of its total tourism consumption, reaching a historic high and promoting the bounce-back of related industries such as hotels, transportation, and retail across all states. However, the appeal to international tourists has diminished due to a sharp drop in arrivals from its core source markets, lagging policy responses, and a lack of systematic planning for international promotion. Besides, issues such as tariffs, immigration policy scrutiny, and entry efficiency, have reduced the willingness of tourists from many countries to travel to the US.

5. The recovery of international tourism has accelerated, with evolving travel patterns and preferences.

The recovery of cross-border tourism has seen a significant speed-up, emerging as a key economic growth driver of global tourism. The travel patterns and consumption preferences of international tourists also keeps evolving. The trend of "fewer trips, longer stays, and deeper experiences" is gradually replacing the pre-pandemic pattern of high-frequency short-distance travels. High value-added travel products—such as cultural exploration, eco-outdoor activities, health and wellness tourism, and culinary study tours—are increasingly gaining popularity. International tourism is entering a more diversified, sustainable, and high-quality development phase.

Part 3: Six Individual-Dimension Rankings of World Tourism Cities Development in 2024 and 2025

In the third part, the report conducts rankings across six specific dimensions including City Popularity, offering further analysis and summaries of the development of world tourism cities in 2024-2025.

Among the six specific rankings released, we place special emphasis on City Intelligence and Tourism Safety, two core indicators that represent key trends in global tourism development. These dimensions strongly align with this conference’s theme of “Smart Tourism for a Win-Win Future.” 

1. City Intelligence Ranking: The top 3 cities are New York, Macao, and Hong Kong, Special Administrative Regions of China. The top ten are mainly cities from the Asia-Pacific and Americas regions.

Among the top ten cities in this ranking, 5 are from China. Beijing, Shanghai, and Hangzhou have served as reference models for the development of smart tourism in cities. This is largely attributed to the Chinese government's emphasis on promoting smart city development and building digital infrastructure. Through policy guidance, technological and financial investment, and encouragement of innovation, the digital service capabilities of China’s cities have been comprehensively enhanced, making them examples and paradigms for global smart city development.

Compared with last year, the global digital development of tourism has shown a steady upward trend. The development of smart tourism has shifted from single-point technology application to systematic ecosystem construction, and the global AI-driven tourism market is in a phase of rapid growth.

2. Safety is the cornerstone of tourism and a priority for tourists choosing destinations in the post-pandemic era. Tourism Safety Ranking: The top 3 cities are Sapporo, Osaka, and Beijing. Among the top ten cities, the Asia-Pacific region jumped from 4 cities last year to 9 this year, with the remaining one from Europe; Beijing ranks third. It can be seen that the Asia-Pacific region has distinct advantages in tourism safety, as cities in this region attach greater importance on it, whereas the safety competitiveness of other regions, such as Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas, has relatively declined.

On the whole, the pandemic has stimulated tourist cities to place greater emphasis on rescue support mechanisms, leading to a slight improvement in the overall development of emergency rescue systems.

Based on the comprehensive characteristics and analysis of the development of world tourism cities in 2024 and 2025, we have put forward 6 strategies and suggestions to promote the comprehensive development of world tourism cities. We look forward to revealing more summaries of experiences and insights for world tourism cities and tourism enterprises. We firmly believe that the global tourism industry will move towards a new phase that is more resilient and sustainable in 2026.

This concludes the release of the World Tourism Cities Development Report 2024-2025. Thank you!