For all of us who travelled, we have seen the crowds of people in airports, train stations and in cities. Reportedly, air travel reached 99% of 2019 figures in November 2023. It sure feels like it!
Most Visited Cities, 2023
The Top 100 City Destinations Index 2023, published by market research company Euromonitor International looks at the world’s key cities and evaluates them based on a range of characteristics.
In terms of international arrivals in 2023, Istanbul had the most arrivals, followed by London and Dubai. The cities with the highest year-on-year rise were Bangkok (with a 142% increase in arrivals) and Hong Kong (2,495%). They were among the last to fully re-open following the Covid-19 closures and were both affected significantly by the restrictions on mainland Chinese travellers.
Most Attractive City Destinations
Based on tourism facilities, sustainability, economic performance and health and safety, Paris was crowned the world’s most appealing metropolitan destination (again). The top ten most appealing destinations in 2023 were as follows.
I have been to all of them in my life and was fortunate enough to revisit six of them last year.
Tokyo entered the top ten for the first time. Largely because a falling Yen had made things much more affordable. Other Asia cities in the Top 20 “best” cities include Singapore (11), Seoul (14), Osaka (16), and Hong Kong (17).
Four new cities in the top 100, were: Washington DC (48), Montréal (68), Santiago (88) and Vilnius (92). I am surprised Montréal had not been included previously.
The report’s author Nadejda Popova, Senior Project Manager at Euromonitor International, highlighted that many cities are now increasingly dealing with the problem of overtourism. She noted that “Some destinations are imposing restrictions, steep taxation or reduction of hotel capacity to help limit the influx of tourists and preserve cultural heritage, while others embrace dispersion strategies that promote alternative or off-the-beaten-path destinations“
We have seen this with Venice’s tourist tax, and the closure of Boracay to all tourists for a year. The Kingdom of Bhutan has resisted mass tourism, capping tourist visas and requiring high minimum daily spending by visitors.
World’s Busiest International Routes
OAG has crunched the numbers to find the top ten international air routes globally. There were a total of 41 million seats available on the world’s ten busiest air routes in 2023. Even though they were international flights, these flights were generally short hops between two close cities. The check/tick marks indicate which of these sectors I have ever flown which turns out to be six of the top ten.
| Rank | Route | Route | Seats | Flown |
| 1 | Kuala Lumpur — Singapore Changi | KUL-SIN | 4,891,952 | ✔ |
| 2 | Cairo — Jeddah | CAI-JED | 4,795,712 | |
| 3 | Hong Kong — Taipei | HKG-TPE | 4,568,280 | ✔ |
| 4 | Seoul Incheon — Osaka Kansai | ICN-KIX | 4,218,484 | |
| 5 | Seoul Incheon — Tokyo Narita | ICN-NRT | 4,155,418 | |
| 6 | Dubai — Riyadh | DXB-RUH | 3,990,076 | |
| 7 | Jakarta — Singapore Changi | CGK-SIN | 3,910,502 | ✔ |
| 8 | New York JFK — London Heathrow | JFK-LHR | 3,878,590 | ✔ |
| 9 | Bangkok — Singapore Changi | BKK-SIN | 3,478,474 | ✔ |
| 10 | Bangkok — Seoul Incheon | BKK-ICN | 3,362,968 | ✔ |
On two of these sectors (Singapore-Kuala Lumpur and Singapore to Bangkok), a high-speed rail (HSR) project reducing the travel time to 90 minutes has been on again/off again for almost three decades. I have taken the current rail service from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur twice. It takes 11 hours, with a frustrating border crossing and three changes of train. Singapore through Bangkok took me seven trains, crossed two borders and required 24 hours minimum. Fun long journey. A high speed train would transform that and significantly impact those air routes.
World’s Busiest Domestic Routes
There are a staggering 95 million available seats just on the top ten domestic routes across the globe.
| Route | KM | City Codes | Seats | Flown |
| Jeju International – Seoul Gimpo | 450 km | CJU-GMP | 13,728,786 | |
| Sapporo New Chitose – Tokyo Haneda | 819 km | CTS-HND | 11,936,302 | |
| Fukuoka – Tokyo Haneda | 883 km | FUK-HND | 11,264,229 | |
| Hanoi – Ho Chi Minh City | 1,155 km | HAN-SGN | 10,883,555 | |
| Melbourne – Sydney | 706 km | MEL-SYD | 9,342,312 | ✔ |
| Beijing – Shanghai Hongqiao | 1,074 km | PEK-SHA | 8,355,225 | ✔ |
| Tokyo Haneda – Okinawa Naha | 1,554 km | HND-OKA | 7,982,218 | |
| Jeddah – Riyadh | 853 km | JED-RUH | 7,902,142 | |
| Mumbai – Delhi | 1,135 km | BOM-DEL | 7,276,430 | ✔ |
| Jakarta – Denpasar-Bali | 983 km | CGK-DPS | 7,190,961 | ✔ |
The busiest domestic route in the world is an hour and ten-minute ride from the beautiful island of Jeju (known as the “Island of Gods“). Five airlines compete on this route along with ferries from multiple South Korean ports. I have not been on this route and not visited the island. Have you been to Jeju?
The second busiest route may change in 2030 when the new Hokkaido Shinkansen will connect Tokyo to Sapporo by 2030 making it an appealing air route alternative.
US Domestic Routes
| Rank | Route | Route | Seats | Flown |
| 1 | Honolulu – Kahului | HNL-OGG | 3,612,212 | ✔ |
| 2 | Atlanta – Orlando | ATL-MCO | 3,515,882 | ✔ |
| 3 | Las Vegas – Los Angeles | LAS-LAX | 3,496,170 | ✔ |
| 4 | New York JFK – Los Angeles | JFK-LAX | 3,241,663 | ✔ |
| 5 | Denver – Las Vegas | DEN-LAS | 3,198,098 |
Europe
With 2.8 million passengers, the busiest European route are as follows. I have never flown any of them.
Of these cities, Lisbon to Madrid could have and should have a high speed rail link. It has no direct rail service at all. Elsewhere in Europe, trains have strongly competed with air travel.
Busiest Airports in 2023
Half a billion people flowed through the ten busiest airports in the world. I have been to all of them except Guangzhou. I managed to only go to London and Dallas in 2023!
| 1 | ATL | Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Intl Apt | 61,226,507 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | DXB | Dubai International | 56,504,042 | 2 | 4 |
| 3 | HND | Tokyo Intl (Haneda) | 52,692,487 | 4 | 3 |
| 4 | LHR | London Heathrow Apt | 49,370,859 | 7 | 7 |
| 5 | DFW | Dallas Dallas/Fort Worth Intl Apt | 48,083,921 | 3 | 13 |
| 6 | DEN | Denver Intl Apt | 46,743,622 | 5 | 21 |
| 7 | IST | Istanbul Airport | 46,399,238 | 10 | 16 |
| 8 | LAX | Los Angeles International Apt | 44,482,633 | 8 | 5 |
| 9 | ORD | Chicago O’Hare International Apt | 43,708,796 | 6 | 6 |
| 10 | CAN | Guangzhou (CN) | 43,425,916 | 16 | 12 |
Conclusion
Popova of Euromonitor International believes that growing living costs and geopolitical unpredictability will result in consumers seeking value-for-money travel options closer to home. I also personally think, a lot of people travelled more in 2023 as a counterbalance to the restrictions of 2020-2022.
What do you think? What are your 2024 plans?
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