The World Travel & Tourism Council has just released major new research detailing which cities globally are prepared to accommodate travel and tourism growth.The study, Destination 2030, was conducted with JLL and assesses 50 cities, detailing what makes an urban center ready for travel and tourism growth including such things urban infrastructure, tourism assets, and city-level policy.Ultimately, five types of cities were defined on the basis of their level of readiness to deal with tourism now and in the future. City types include dawning developers; emerging performers; balanced dynamics; mature performers and finally those categorized as managing momentum.Here’s how some of the most popular destinations around the world ranked. Passport with world map. (photo via Diy13 / iStock / Getty Images Plus) Dawning DevelopersThese cities have slower tourism growth and lower visitor concentration (at least for now). Cities in this category include Bogota; Buenos Aires; Cairo; Chengdu; Kuala Lumpur; Lima; Manila; Moscow; Mumbai; Rio de Janeiro; and Riyadh.Emerging PerformersCities in this category were found to have growing tourism momentum and increased pressures. Some of the planet’s emerging performers are Bangkok; Cape Town; Delhi; Ho Chi Minh City; Istanbul; Jakarta and Mexico City.MORE Features & Advice Balanced DynamicsA category made up of cities that are financial hubs often with lower leisure travel, cities in this category also have room for growth without straining infrastructure. The current roster of balanced dynamics cities includes Beijing; Chicago; Dubai; Hong Kong; Munich; Osaka; Shanghai; Singapore and Tokyo.Mature PerformersMature performers are cities where there is strong leisure and/or business travel. In addition, visitor volumes are increasingly testing cities’ readiness for additional growth. Some of the well-known cities in this category include Auckland; Berlin; Dublin; Las Vegas; Lisbon; London; Los Angeles and more.Managing MomentumThe final category, cities managing momentum or those destinations where there is high growth momentum driven by leisure travel. However, visitor volumes and activities have the potential to cause strain on the city. This category is populated by some of the cities that have most famously struggled with overtourism in recent years including Barcelona; Amsterdam; Prague; Paris and Rome.The WTTC pointed out in issuing the report that travel and tourism is an essential industry, one that contributes 10.4 percent to global GDP. It was also responsible for the creation of one in five new jobs over the last five years.Cities and city tourism drive both country and sector growth on a significant scale, the WTTC statement said. Cities are global hubs accelerating business, innovation and job creation all around the world.Of the 1.4 billion international visitors crossing borders in 2018 for tourism purposes, 45 percent are traveling to visit cities. What’s more, international arrivals to the 300 largest city travel destinations accounted for over half a billion trips last year."Tourism authorities in many major cities around the world are working incredibly hard to prepare for the future," said Gloria Guevara, WTTC president, and CEO. "However, for a city to truly thrive and for travel and tourism to develop in a sustainable manner, city planning authorities, developers, investors, legislators, and community groups, need to understand how prepared the city is for future expected growth in tourism and the resulting challenges and opportunities it may face.” Let's block ads! (Why?)