World's most popular tourist attractions: Istanbul's Grand Bazaar tops list (original) (raw)
Disney theme parks make up four of the world’s top 20 tourist attractions, according to new research.
Disney World’s Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Florida, Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Park in California and Tokyo DisneySea registered a total of more than 66 million visitors last year.
The destinations are among 15 theme parks included in a list of the world’s top 50 tourist attractions compiled by tourism website Travel + Leisure.
The most popular tourist destination across the globe last year was Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar, which recorded 91.25m visitors in 2013
The most popular destination across the globe was Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar, which recorded 91.25m visitors in 2013.
The 15th century market is famous for its hand-painted ceramics, lanterns, intricately patterned carpets, and Byzantine-style jewelry.
Mexico City’s The Zócalo - the ceremonial Atzec plaza - came in second place with 85 million visitors, while New York’s Times Square was third in the list with 50 million.
The Zocalo hosts military parades, cultural and political events, concerts, exhibitions, fairs, and public art installations, while Times Square is known for it lively entertainment, Broadway shows and many shops.
Disney World’s Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Florida recorded 18.6 million visitors last year making it the 12th most visited tourist attraction in the world
Other attractions that made up the top ten were New York's Central Park, and Union Station in Washington D.C. which both attracted 40m visitors.
The Las Vegas Strip came in sixth position followed by Tokyo's Meiji Jingu Shrine and Sensoji Temple.
Niagara Falls was in ninth place while New York City's Grand Central Terminal was in tenth position with 21.6m visitors.
There was no place on the list for any British attractions, and the least visited place in the top 50 most popular tourist destinations was the Taj Mahal, which still recorded between seven and eight million tourists.
It means the British Museum in London (6.7 million), the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (6.3 million), and the Roman Colosseum (5.1 million) narrowly missed the cut.
Nevada's Las Vegas Strip attracted 30.5m annual visitors in 2013, making it the sixth most popular destination
The figures were compiled from data supplied by government agencies and industry reports including the Global Attractions Attendance Report.
The attractions themselves also supplied their own data when ticket sales weren’t available.
Travel + Leisure defined tourist attractions as ‘cultural and historical sites, natural landmarks, and officially designated spaces’.
It meant that while destinations such as the Las Vegas Strip made the list, popular spots such as malls and shopping centres were not included, despite often attracting tens of millions of visitors each year.
Beaches and religious sites were also omitted.
Niagara Falls in New York and Ontario registered 22m visitors, placing it ninth in the top 50 tourist attractions
Bourbon Street in New Orleans was 45th in the list of the world's top 50 destinations with 7,470,000 visitors
The publication of the list comes shortly after the World Tourist Organisation published their annual report earlier this year detailing the state of global tourism.
It revealed there was a five percent growth in international tourism in 2013, which amounted to an additional 52 million tourists and which brought the total up to 1.087 billion.
The growth defied predictions that the global economic downturn would slow tourism.
Regions that showed the biggest growth in international tourism in 2013 were Asia, Africa and Europe.
Of these areas, Southeast Asia, Central and Eastern Europe and North Africa were the most popular places to visit.
The Taj Mahal in India recorded between seven and eight million visitors in 2013 putting it in 50th position
The Great Wall of China had 10.7m visitors in 2013, making the historic attraction the 26th most popular site
The Palace of Versailles, in France just made it onto the list with 7,527,122 tourists visiting the site last year
The Forbidden City in Beijing attracted an astonishing 15,340,000 in 2013, making it the 16th most popular tourist attraction in the world last year
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee had 9,345,695 in 2013
Europe currently remains the most visited region in the world, welcoming an extra 29 million visitors last year to attract a total of 563 million tourists – 52 percent of the entire tourist market.
Northern, Southern and Central America saw an increase of six million visitors to reach a total of 169 million.
Africa attracted three million more arrivals than 2012, reaching a new record of 56 million.
Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico City, recorded 20 million tourists in 2013, putting it in 11th place
The list of top 50 travel destinations also revealed that South Korean theme parks Everland and Lotte World were among the most visited attractions, beating the Eiffel Tower with nearly seven million, the Great Pyramids with nearly four million and Stonehenge with one million.
Travel + Leisure noted that accessibility can be a factor in determining how many visitors visit a particular attraction, adding that it takes extra effort to reach destination’s such as Yellowstone National Park, which recorded 3.2 million visitors, the Terracotta Army in Xi'an, China, which had 4.8 million, and Peru’s Machu Picchu, which has restricted tourism to 2,500 entries per day, or 912,500 per year.
THE WORLD'S TOP 50 MOST VISITED
1 Grand Bazaar, Istanbul
Annual Visitors: 91,250,000
2 The Zócalo, Mexico City
Annual Visitors: 85,000,000
3 Times Square, New York City
Annual Visitors: 50,000,000
4 (tie) Central Park, New York City
Annual Visitors: 40,000,000
4 (tie) Union Station, Washington, D.C.
Annual Visitors: 40,000,000
6 Las Vegas Strip
Annual Visitors: 30,500,000
7 (tie) Meiji Jingu Shrine, Tokyo
Annual Visitors: 30,000,000
7 (tie) Sensoji Temple, Tokyo
Annual Visitors: 30,000,000
9 Niagara Falls, New York and Ontario
Annual Visitors: 22,000,000
10 Grand Central Terminal, New York City
Annual Visitors: 21,600,00
11 Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico City
Annual Visitors: 20,000,000
12 Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, Orlando, Florida
Annual Visitors: 18,588,000
13 Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Boston
Annual Visitors: 18,000,000
14 Tokyo Disneyland
Annual Visitors: 17,214,000
15 Disneyland Park, California
Annual Visitors: 16,202,000
16 Forbidden City, Beijing
Annual Visitors: 15,340,000
17 Golden Gate National Recreation Area, San Francisco
Annual Visitors: 14,289,121
18 Tokyo DisneySea
Annual Visitors: 14,084,000
19 Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris
Annual Visitors: 14,000,000
20 Golden Gate Park, San Francisco
Annual Visitors: 13,000,000
21 Balboa Park, San Diego
Annual Visitors: 12,000,000 to 14,000,000
22 South Street Seaport, New York City
Annual Visitors: 12,000,000
23 San Antonio River Walk, Texas
Annual Visitors: 11,500,000
24 Epcot, Disney World, Orlando, Florida
Annual Visitors: 11,229,000
25 St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City, Italy
Annual Visitors: 11,000,000
Source: travelandleisure.com
TOURIST ATTRACTIONS
26 Great Wall of China
Annual Visitors: 10,720,000
27 Sacré Coeur Basilica, Paris
Annual Visitors: 10,500,000
28 Disneyland Park, France
Annual Visitors: 10,430,000
29 Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Florida
Annual Visitors: 10,198,000
30 Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Florida
Annual Visitors: 10,110,000
31 Universal Studios Japan, Osaka, Japan
Annual Visitors: 10,100,000
32 Hollywood Walk of Fame, California
Annual Visitors: 10,000,000 to 12,000,000
33 Pike Place Market, Seattle
Annual Visitors: 10,000,000
34 Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina and Tennessee
Annual Visitors: 9,345,695
35 Musée du Louvre, Paris
Annual Visitors: 9,334,000
36 Navy Pier, Chicago
Annual Visitors: 8,900,000
37 Disney’s California Adventure,California
Annual Visitors: 8,514,000
38 Sydney Opera House, Sydney
Annual Visitors: 8,200,000
39 Universal’s Islands of Adventure, Orlando, Florida
Number of Visitors: 8,141,000
40 (tie) Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C.
Annual Visitors: 8,000,000
40 (tie) Grand Palace, Bangkok
Number of Visitors: 8,000,000
40 (tie) Pier 39, San Francisco
Annual Visitors: 8,000,000
43 Palace of Versailles, France
Annual Visitors: 7,527,122
44 Ocean Park, Hong Kong
Annual Visitors: 7,475,000
45 Bourbon Street, New Orleans
Annual Visitors: 7,470,000
46 National Museum of China, Beijing
Annual Visitors: 7,450,000
47 (tie) Hong Kong Disneyland, Hong Kong
Annual Visitors: 7,400,000
47 (tie) Lotte World, Seoul
Annual Visitors: 7,400,000
49 Everland, Gyeonggi-Do, South Korea
Annual Visitors: 7,303,000
50 Taj Mahal, Agra, India
Annual Visitors: 7,000,000 to 8,000,000
source: travelandleisure.com