Skift Take
There will likely be many changes to this ranking as 2016 numbers are finalized as some of the most-visited cities experienced weaker currencies or violence last year. Keep in mind, however, that some of these cities base their data on airport arrivals who don't actually step foot from the airport and experience the destination.
Many of the world's most visited cities continued to be epicenters of global travel in 2015 but some had fewer visitors than the previous year, owed to weaker economies and political unrest in cities such as Paris and Hong Kong.
Hong Kong remained the world's most visited city by international travelers in 2015 but registered -3.9 percent growth in arrivals year-over-year (26.6 million), according to data from Euromonitor International. Macau, another Chinese special administrative region, had 1.8 percent fewer international visitors in 2015 than 2014 (14.3 million).
Yet cities in mainland China such as Shenzhen had -3.4 percent growth while Guangzhou had 1.6 percent growth, Shanghai had 2.2 percent growth and Beijing's foreign arrivals decreased by 1.8 percent.
Political developments in Hong Kong and Macau, for example, had a strong impact on travel behaviors in 2015, said Wouter Geerts, travel analyst at Euromonitor International.
"The Chinese authorities clamped down on some of the illegal activities associated with the gambling industry in Macau, which impacted the travel of rich Chinese tourists to the area," said Geerts. "And protests from Hong Kong locals, demanding more autonomy from the Chinese government and against Chinese s
