Most Visited Cities in the World 2013: Bangkok Is Number One

According to data from the Global Destinations Cities Index, Bangkok is the most visited international city in 2013. The Index studied cities in terms of international visitor arrivals of at least one overnight stay and according to the money spent by visitors in the city.

Bangkok managed to surpass the city of London by a small margin.

"This is the first time an Asian city is in the top rank since the Index was launched in 2010. London is now followed by Paris, Singapore, New York, Istanbul, Dubai and others," reported the study on its website.

Paris is third but is the only city in the top twenty that shows a decline in visitor arrivals. Istanbul and Dubai has shown the biggest growth spurt and increased in arrival numbers by 9.5 and 10.9 percent.

"With the exception of Bangkok overtaking London to be in the top rank in the world, the lineup of the global top 20 in 2013 is the same as in 2012," said the study.

In terms of spending New York has the top spot with about $18.59 billion. Following New York is London, Paris, Singaporea nd Tokyo.

"Only two U.S. cities made the top 20: New York (at No. 5 with 11.5 million international visitors) and Los Angeles (at No. 20 with 4.8 million).

Other takeaways: In what the report terms the "rise of the global south," 11 of the 12 cities with the greatest increase in air travel connectivity are in Asia and the Middle East," reported USA Today.

Here is the top 20 ranked by international overnight visitors:

1 Bangkok 15.98 mil

2 London 15.96 mil

3 Paris 13.92 mil

4 Singapore 11.75 mil

5 New York 11.52 mil

6 Istanbul 10.37 mil

7 Dubai 9.89 mil

8 Kuala Lumpur 9.20 mil

9 Hong Kong 8.72 mil

10 Barcelona 8.41 mil

11 Seoul 8.19 mil