KUALA LUMPUR: Interest in major cities in Asia is projected to continue to increase this year, with Kuala Lumpur having secured a spot in the top 10 trending global travel destinations, according to reviews by global travellers on TripAdvisor.
It said Asia, with emerging travel hotspots for 2024, comes out top, securing the top five places in the global trending destinations, which identifies places which have seen the greatest year-over-year growth in interest, and making up an impressive eight out of the top 10 destinations.
This year, Kuala Lumpur stands as the tenth most trending destination in the world, while Tokyo, Japan, is named first on the list, followed by Seoul, South Korea (second), Halong Bay, Vietnam (third), Palawan Islands, Philippines (fourth), Sapa, Vietnam (fifth), Pattaya, Thailand (seventh) and Phnom Penh, Cambodia (ninth).
Bogota, Colombia in South America and Alajuela, Costa Rica in Central America are the only other regions to make the top 10, at sixth and eighth places, respectively.
Kuala Lumpur has also secured the sixth spot in the list of most visited cities, with a total of 13.79 million international visitors as of 2018.
This was according to the Global Destination Cities Index 2019, studied by global payment technology corporation, Mastercard, which ranks cities based on total international overnight visitor arrivals and cross-border spending.
Kuala Lumpur, the home to the headquarters of Petronas, is listed in the annual Fortune Global 500, ranking 139 as of 2023.
The Kuala Lumpur city centre is visually defined by the iconic Petronas Twin Towers, which at 88 stories high, are the tallest twin buildings in the world and a vision of modern architecture, while the Sri Mahamariamman Temple is the oldest Hindu temple in Malaysia, with its facade, a colourful totem pole of iconography.
Tripadvisor announced its Travellers' Choice Best of the Best Destination Awards, which ranks the world's top trending destinations for 2024, last month.
The ranking was determined based on the quality and quantity of reviews from global travellers for accommodation, restaurants and 'things to do' which were posted to Tripadvisor from Oct 1, 2022, to Sept 30, 2023.– Bernama