International visitor spend in Amman to grow by 20% in 2011

The world’s most prominent cities, including those hit hardest by the financial crisis, are leading global recovery through their connectivity and as destination cities for international visitors, according to the inaugural MasterCard Worldwide Index of Global Destination Cities released recently. Within Middle East and Africa, Amman featured prominently on the Index, coming in eighth in terms of numbers of inbound international visitors and ninth in terms of international visitor spending. 

The latest Index from MasterCard is a new approach to understanding the global economy from the perspective of connectivity between global cities, especially in terms of international travel and cross-border expenditures. The emergent picture depicting this network of connectivity between these global destination cities can serve as a new road map for a deeper understanding of the dynamic flow of global commerce.   

The Index estimates that 1.8 million international visitors will visit Amman in 2011 – this reflects a robust growth of 14.1% compared to 2010. Amman is also expected to witness international visitor spend of US$1.3 billion in 2011, making it the ninth most highly ranked city in this category across the Middle East and Africa and representing an increase of 19.9% compared to 2010. 

Top cities for Amman’s inbound travel and expenditure are London, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. London is ranked as top inbound origin market, with 137 thousand travellers expected to come to Amman, with an estimated expenditure of US$104 million. Abu Dhabi ranks third for inbound cities travelling to Amman, but is the city with the highest percentage of business travellers, with 37.61% of travellers going to Jordan’s capital for business. 

Cairo, Istanbul and Beirut emerged as the top three destination cities for Amman in terms of the number of outbound passenger departures. Beirut and Cairo recorded the highest expected outbound spend, with an estimated expenditure of US$335 million and US$177 million respectively. 

The MasterCard Index of Global Destination Cities ranks 132 cities in terms of the number of their total international visitor arrivals and the cross-border spending by these same visitors in the destination cities, and gives visitor and passenger growth forecasts for 2011. The Index is part of MasterCard’s rich suite of research products, which include the MasterCard Worldwide Index of Consumer Confidence, the MasterCard Worldwide Index of Women’s Advancement, as well as over 70 Insights reports to date. This Index and the accompanying reports are not based on MasterCard volumes or transactional data. 

“The MasterCard Index of Global Destination Cities is the newest addition to our knowledge leadership platform. We continually assess and innovate our knowledge leadership platforms to offer relevant and updated insights that support the acceleration of business and drive real value for our customers, associates, merchants and consumers in the region,” said Shaun Rashid, area head, Northern Africa and Levant, MasterCard Worldwide. 

“We are delighted to see Amman’s continued growth as a destination for travellers from around the globe. Amman is renowned for its rich history, and has established itself as a key business hub in the Middle East. The Global Cities Index is a part of MasterCard’s endeavor to understand the wider economic significance and impact of inbound travel and expenditure into cities like Amman, and reflects a healthy outlook for Jordan’s capital,” added Basel Eltell, vice president, region manager, Levant. 

Overall London topped the world’s cities by visitor numbers with 20.1 million inbound passengers expected in 2011, ahead of Paris in second with 18.1 million. Cities in Asia/Pacific account for eight of the top twenty with Bangkok ranked third globally and, projected to have 11.5 million visitors this year, followed by Singapore with 11.4 million and Hong Kong with 10.9 million visitors. Only one city in North America is in the top twenty, New York, which is ranked twelfth with 7.6 million inbound passengers expected.