Athens, Heraklion and Rhodes are among Euromonitor International’s annual World Top 100 City Destinations in 2015. Euromonitor International is the world’s leading provider for global business intelligence and strategic market analysis. We have more than 40 years of experience publishing international market reports, business reference books and online databases on consumer markets. Athens ranked 47th, 4 spots better, as a city break destination, while Heraklion city, in Crete, and the island of Rhodes were also in the top 100 places. • Japanese cities saw impressive growth, with Tokyo rising eight places to rank 17th, and Osaka and Kyoto entering the top 100, ranking 55 and 89 respectively.
Tunisia fell on hard times due to multiple terrorist attacks, with Jerba being the only Tunisian city in the ranking, while Mecca in Saudi Arabia was the best performer in the region, seeing strong growth in the number of religious tourists.
Countries with a comparable offerings to Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia, such as Spain, Greece, Portugal and Italy, saw booming international arrivals. Athens especially had another record year with arrivals growing by 22.6 percent in 2015, despite political and economic turmoil.
Mexican tourism overall is booming with Cancun remaining immensely popular, despite a decline in visitors due to the Mexican government promoting other destinations within the country.
Lima had a strong performance, with growth of 9 percent in 2015. The city benefitted from the improvement of the Peruvian economy and international recognition of Peru as a travel destination.
Euromonitor International’s Travel Analyst, Wouter Geerts comments, “2015 was another turbulent year. Terrorist attacks, geopolitical conflicts, economic uncertainty and health scares like MERS and Zika were just some of the factors impacting city arrivals. Nevertheless, top cities outperformed global travel flows, registering growth of 5.5 percent in international arrivals compared to 2014, showing the resilience of global cities as travel destinations.”