Bangkok ranks world’s top tourist capital

BANGKOK, 9 October 2017:  Bangkok topped Mastercard’s Global Destination Cities Index 2017, released last week,  on the sheer weight of its overnight tourist arrivals and tourism spend.

Of the 132 destinations featured, five of the top 10 places in the annual survey went to destinations in the Asia-Pacific region.

Bangkok has topped the chart for two years in a row. The latest report is based on the overnight stay head count and cross border spend in 2016. Read more

Asia Pacific travel gears up

SINGAPORE, 27 September 2017: Travel in Asia Pacific is not showing any signs of slowing down, with the region dominating visitor arrivals once again, according to the Mastercard Global Destinations Cities Index 2017, released Tuesday.

The proof is also in the travel spend with Asia Pacific destinations tracking the highest amount of international overnight visitor spend among its top 10 cities. Bringing in USD91.16 billion in travel expenditure in 2016, Asia Pacific outpaced Europe (USD74.74 billion), and North America (USD55.02 billion).

Ranking the world’s 132 top destination cities, the Index studied visitor volume and spend for the 2016 calendar year and provided a forecast for annual growth, insights on the fastest growing destination cities, and a deeper understanding of why people travel and how they spend around the world. Read more

Bintan tie up with CresentRating

SINGAPORE, 9 June 2017: Bintan Resorts rolls out a series of initiatives in collaboration with CrescentRating and Halaltrip, to increase its appeal to Muslim travellers across the world with a focus on the neighbouring ASEAN region, China and the Middle East.

Indonesia recently climbed one position to take the third spot as the top performing destination in the Mastercard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) 2017.

The new initiative includes the Muslim Visitor Guide to Bintan Resorts that will be available in English and subsequently translated to Arabic and Chinese. The guide highlights Muslim friendly resorts, attractions and Halal friendly restaurants, providing visitors with a high level of assurance. Read more

Thai PM demands quality street food

BANGKOK, 18 May 2017: Thailand’s Prime Minister, Prayut Chan-o-cha, has called on the Ministry of Tourism and Sports and Bangkok Metropolitan Administration to push forward the promotion and quality of Bangkok’s street food venues.

Government spokesperson, Lt Gen Sansern Kaewkamnerd, said the Prime Minister was pleased with the latest findings that indicated Bangkok was the most visited destination in Asia Pacific according to Mastercard Asia Pacific Destinations Index 2017.

“With Bangkok now ranked highly in several polls including best street food and fresh markets, the Prime Minister has called on the Ministry of Tourism and Sports to collaborate with Bangkok Metropolitan Administration to reorganise and promote Bangkok’s street food in a tangible manner, especially in Yaowarat, and Khao San areas.” Read more

Malaysia top destination for Muslims

BANGKOK, 5 May 2017: Malaysia continues to hold the top spot as the favourite destination for Muslim travellers, seven years in a row, according to the latest Mastercard-Cresent Rating Global Muslim Travel Index 2017.

Overall, Muslim international travel will reach 156 million by 2020 and expenditure is expected to touch USD220 billion, the Index stated in its highlights released to the media Wednesday.

The index covers 130 destinations (48 OIC destinations and 82 non-OIC destinations) providing comprehensive research and insights on the Muslim travel market. Read more

Mastercard simplifies B2B payments

SINGAPORE, 17 March 2017: Mastercard announced, Thursday, a partnership with Eko-Pay to introduce Eko-B2B, a new digital payment solution for businesses in Asia Pacific.

Eko-B2B will provide businesses with an automated payment solution that enables them to streamline workflows and improve productivity for B2B payment transactions.

Powered by Eko-Pay, a technology company with proprietary solutions for financial and non-financial transactions, Eko-B2B seamlessly integrates with the Mastercard inControl platform to facilitate business payments, reducing inefficiencies and improving transparency. Read more

Vietnamese catch the travel bug

HANOI, 18 January 2017: Vietnam Tourism Association estimates around 6.5 million Vietnamese travelled overseas, last year, an increase of 15% from 2015 and spent around USD7 to USD8 billion.

Local media quoted the association vice chairman, Vu The Binh, saying the association based its estimate on data from tourism authorities in popular destinations that attract Vietnamese tourists such as Thailand, Singapore, China, South Korea and Japan.

“Outbound travel is on the rise, leading to a large pickup in spend…the outbound travel segment is now a strong source of income for many travel agents.” Read more

Mastercard tracks outbound travel

BANGKOK, 17 January 2017: Thailand’s outbound travel market will generate 9.1 million trips, annually, over the next five years, according to Mastercard’s latest report, Future of Outbound Travel in Asia Pacific 2016 to 2021.

According to the report, Thailand is among Asia Pacific’s emerging markets that will see a significant growth in outbound travel, but the report shows that it far from being a star performer and lags behind its neighbours.

Thailand’s outbound travel market seriously under performs when compared with neighbours, Singapore and Malaysia, that have smaller populations, but more trips. Read more

Seniors benefit from SQ fares

BANGKOK, 15 December 2016: Singapore Airlines offers promotional fares for passengers who are 55 years or older and pay with their Mastercard.

The promotion is valid for flights up to 31 March, next year, but bookings must be finalised by the end of this month.

All the Fares are valid for flights departing Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket and Samui, except for Singapore which applies to Bangkok departures only. Read more

What a week that was: Trophies and dollars

BANGKOK, 5 October 2016: When Mastercard confirmed Bangkok as the world’s leading tourist destination, who was surprised?

It outshone London by close to 2 million visits clocking up 21.47 million tourist arrivals. But does last week’s revelation tell the whole story of Thailand’s journey to tourism success? Probably not.

Achieving the number one spot was simple arithmetic courtesy of the Immigration Bureau’s head count at the city’s two international airport. Read more

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