London named the most popular city in the world for tourists

London has been named as the most popular city in the world for tourists for the fifth time in seven years.

Mastercard has compiled its annual lists of the most popular cities based on projected visitor numbers and spend by the end of the year - London comes out top in both cases.

The most popular cities by visitor numbers (projected total in brackets):

1. London (18.82m)

2. Bangkok (18.24m)

3. Paris (16.06m)

4. Dubai (14.26m)

5. Istanbul (12.56m)

6. New York (12.27m)

7. Singapore (11.88m)

8. Kuala Lumpur (11.12m)

9. Seoul (10.35m)

10. Hong Kong (8.66m)

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