Bangkok eighth in global attractive city index

Bangkok has been ranked eighth worldwide in the 2026 Global Tourism City Attractiveness Index, placing the Thai capital ahead of Okinawa and Chicago but immediately behind Rome.

The study, published by Yanolja Research, assessed 261 cities and issued rankings for the top 200. Chiang Mai, Thailand's second-largest tourist destination, came 27th overall.

The index is based on online traveller discussion and sentiment, not visitor arrival numbers, hotel prices or official safety assessments.

How the rankings were compiled

Yanolja Research developed the index with Purdue University's CHRIBA Institute in the United States and Kyung Hee University's H&T Analytics Centre in Seoul.

Researchers examined global social media conversations in 14 languages, using Brandwatch data to assess both the volume of traveller comments and the sentiment behind them.

New York was ranked first overall, with researchers attributing its position to global visibility and consistently positive visitor sentiment. Paris took second place, followed by Osaka, Kyoto and Seoul.

London was sixth and Rome seventh, before Bangkok in eighth. Okinawa came ninth and Chicago tenth.

The index also uses separate scores for overall performance, awareness and attractiveness. New York led the overall and awareness categories, although it ranked third for attractiveness, behind two Asian cities.

Asia's growing appeal in traveller sentiment

Dr SooCheong (Shawn) Jang, a Purdue University professor and director of Yanolja Research, said the findings suggested the strongest tourism cities were no longer simply those with the highest visitor numbers or biggest promotional budgets.

He said successful cities were those able to turn worldwide recognition into visitor experiences that carried emotional meaning.

Jang said New York demonstrated the strength of combining exceptional global recognition with experiential appeal. He added that the strong showing by Osaka, Kyoto, Seoul and Okinawa indicated that emotional attractiveness was becoming increasingly important in tourism competition.

Researchers found that about 60% of leading destinations in the attractiveness category were in Asia, reflecting a broader shift in traveller sentiment towards the region.

Japan had eight cities in the broader top 50 for attractiveness: Osaka, Kyoto, Okinawa, Tokyo, Nagoya, Fukuoka, Yokohama and Sapporo.

The United States had the widest representation in the upper levels of the index, with 16 cities in the global top 50 and 19 in the top 100. Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and Washington DC joined New York in the top 20.

Picture courtesy of Khoasod

Join the discussion?

21 August 2026