Grand Palace among ‘most visited’
BANGKOK’S Grand Palace has outpaced the Eiffel Tower, Egypt’s Great Pyramids and Rome’s Colosseum to make the list of the World’s 50 Most Visited Tourist Attractions, according to the magazine Travel+Leisure.
Based on the gate count, the Grand Palace draws 8 million visitors a year, making it the eighth-most-visited attraction in Asia and 40th in the magazine’s world’s top-50 list.
“A listing among the World’s 50 Most Visited Tourist Attractions illustrates how Bangkok’s iconic Grand Palace continues to inspire and appeal to international visitors,” said Tourism Authority of Thailand governor Yuthasak Supasorn.
At the other end of the scale, the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey, topped the global list with an astonishing 91.25 million visits.
The Zocalo, Mexico City’s main square, was second, generating 85 million visits, and Times Square in New York City third with 50 million.
Results were based on either visitor ticket sales or visit estimates sourced from attraction management, government agencies, industry reports and media. In most cases the study adopted the 2013 data.
In the list’s preamble, T+L editors said attractions were “defined as cultural and historical sites, national landmarks, and officially designated spaces”.
They omitted beaches, bridges, and sites that draw almost exclusively religious pilgrims.
The Grand Palace, built in 1782, is one of Thailand’s most revered heritage sites. It was the official residence and seat of government for monarchs of the Chakri Dynasty for more than 150 years.
The iconic riverfront palace shared 40th place with two other attractions that claimed 8 million annual visits: the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC, and Pier 39 in San Francisco.
Meanwhile, TAT on Saturday announced the results of a “Shopping Challenge” that ran as part of its “Amazing Thailand Grand Sale 2016”. This year, 14 teams made up of shopping-loving celebrities from all over Asia and Australia competed for a Bt100,000 prize by racing around Bangkok’s most famous malls to find special products.
The participants were members of the media and celebrities from Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, South Korea, mainland China, Cambodia, Laos, Taiwan, Brunei, Japan and, for the first time, Australia.
This year’s Shopping Challenge was won by the team from Guangzhou, China, comprising Sun Shaqi, Liu Yongshi and Zou Ziliang, who clinched the top spot after a closely fought event.
Taking part in this year’s Amazing Thailand Grand Sale will be 15,000 tourism business operators in more than 110 department stores and shopping centres
