DHAKA: Dubai continues to climb the ranks in the world’s top 10 destinations and recently became the fifth most favourite hotspot for travelers, ahead of New York and other popular cities in Europe.

A new MasterCard study revealed on Wednesday, reports gulfnews.com.

Dubai is the only city in the Middle East and Africa region to make it to the top five list.

London is now the number one destination city by international visitor arrivals, followed by Bangkok, which occupied last year’s top spot, Paris and Singapore.

According to MasterCard’s Global Destination Cities Index, which tracks the growth of international travelers from more than 100 cities across the globe, 12 million international visitors will come to Dubai this year, an increase of 7.5 percent from 2013.

The increase in visitor numbers has helped propelled Dubai to the fifth spot, outrunning close rivals like New York and Istanbul, both of which ranked higher than Dubai last year.

Travel and tourism play a major part in Dubai’s economy, which is already on a strong growth path. Its world-class infrastructure and amenities, beaches, water theme parks and a lot more are proving to be a major draw to international travelers.

Nearly 10 million international visitors came to Dubai last year, up from 8.8 million in 2012.

BDST: 2042 HRS, JULY 09, 2014