Five Asian cities sneak in top 10 destinations for international travelers

But Hong Kong is nowhere in the list.

Once again, Asia Pacific has bested itself with five out of the top ten destinations for international travelers hailing from the region, up from four in the previous year, according to the results of the MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index released today.

According to a release from MasterCard, Bangkok relinquished its top spot from last year to London, but still came in strong in second place, retaining its leading position amongst the Asia Pacific cities despite an 11 percent decline in visitors on account of the political unrest that has plagued Thailand since the latter part of 2013.

The release also said that Southeast Asian cities also show promising growth rates with Jakarta projected to see growth of 18.8%, followed by Hanoi (15.1%) and Manila (14.3%).

Kuala Lumpur, despite a marginally lower projected growth rate of 13.1%, makes it to Asia Pacific’s top ten for international visitors by sheer arrival numbers, according to the report.

Here's more from MasterCard:

The Malaysian capital city also boasts the second highest growth rate in the Global top 20. At US$14.3 billion, Singapore took over Bangkok’s top spot for international visitor spend in Asia Pacific, up 7.6 percent from last year.

The city-state’s projected visitor arrivals expenditure per city resident stood at US$2,600, beating out London’s US$2,378 and second only to Dubai.

Dr. Yuwa Hedrick-Wong, global economic advisor to MasterCard said “International visitors and their spending are powerful transformational forces in destination cities from the business, social and cultural perspectives.

Since 2009, we’ve seen cross-border travel and associated spending growing at faster rates than real world GDP.

This continued growth of travel across borders reflects a continued interest and desire for new cultural experiences from all geographies, including the growing middle class in many emerging markets who now have the purchasing power to pursue these opportunities.”