Based on the Index, China’s Chengdu and Xi'an witnessed significant growth in international visitors between 2009 and 2015, and both cities thus became the fastest-growing destination cities in the world. Chengdu was ranked 2nd and Xi'an 6th on the list.

The Index indicates that against the backdrop of Chinese outbound tourists pushing robust tourism growth across the globe, visitors to Chengdu during the seven years have more than tripled and it is expected that international tourists to the city will increase from 480,000 in 2009 to 1.49 million this year.

Chengdu was named one of the “52 Places to Go in 2015” by The New York Times in January of this year.

“Pandas are this city’s drawing card and adventurous chefs and boutique hotels give visitors a reason to stay in the city,” said The New York Times editor and writer Justin Bergman in an article published on the newspaper.

About the MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index
The MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index ranks cities in terms of the number of their local international overnight visitor arrivals and the cross-border spending by the same visitors in the destination cities, and gives visitor and passenger growth forecasts for next year.
Driven by insights into travel patterns, the MasterCard Global Destinations Cities Index provides a ranking of the 132 most visited cities around the world. More than just a travel tracker, the Index delivers deeper understanding of how people move around the world and shows the importance and prominence of the world's cities as homes, destinations and engines of growth.