Lagos Has Emerged As 4th Most Visited City In Africa 2014 --MasterCard Index

According to the index, 1.3 million international overnight visitors
are expected to visit Lagos this year, up 5.8 percent from the 1.25
million international visitors who visited the city in 2013. Lagos
ranks ahead of Casablanca (989,219), Durban (890,178), Accra (842,414)
and Nairobi (619,506) among others in terms of forecasted
international overnight visitors.

International visitors to Lagos are expected to spend US$710 million
in 2014, up 3.8 percent from last year's US$684 million. The city
ranks fifth in Africa in terms of overall visitor expenditure below
Johannesburg (US$3.20 billion), Cape Town (US$2.25 billion), Cairo
(US$804 million) and Casablanca (US$737 million).

"The impacts of travel are very significant from a business, social,
and cultural perspective. International visitor spending constitutes
an increasingly important source of business revenue in leading cities
around the world, encompassing the hospitality, retail, transport,
sports and culture industries, among many others, and Lagos welcomes
its growth," says Omokehinde Ojomuyide, Vice President and Area
Business Head, MasterCard in West Africa.

Now in its fourth year, the MasterCard Index of Global Destination
Cities ranks 132 cities in terms of the number of their total
international visitor arrivals and the cross-border spending by these
same visitors in the destination cities. It also gives visitor and
passenger growth forecasts for 2014. The 13 African cities ranked in
the Index are Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Cairo, Casablanca,
Accra, Nairobi, Beira, Dakar, Kampala, Lagos, Maputo and Tunis.

As the largest economy in Africa, Nigeria continues to attract
international investment from companies in diverse sectors. Lagos,
which is the most populous city in Africa, is listed as the second
most attractive destination on the continent for retail sector
investors, according to the 2014 Africa Retail Development Index.

"Nigeria's recent GDP rebasing reveals that the country is the largest
economy in Africa, and the 26thlargest in the world, with a GDP of
$510 billion. The increase in international visitors signals income
generation for Lagos, and is becoming a major economic growth engine,"
adds Ojomuyide

South African cities Johannesburg and Cape Town come in at first and
second place as the most popular destination cities by international
overnight visitors, attracting 4.2 million and 1.6 million visitors in
2014. Cairo in Egypt (1.35 million) and Casablanca in Morocco (982,219
million) occupy third and fifth place on the index in terms of
international visitor numbers.

The world's top destination cities
For the third time in four years, London is the destination of choice
for travellers. London will receive 18.7 million international
visitors in 2014, followed by Bangkok (16.4 million), Paris (15.6
million), Singapore (12.5 million) and Dubai (11.9 million).

These cities are benefiting from the surge in international travel
fuelled by an expanding middle class, innovations in luxury travel and
the rising need for business travel.

"The global travel sector has been supported by the significant
developments in the electronic payments sphere, and we see more
consumers taking advantage of programs and offers that make
international travel more achievable and hassle free. MasterCard
continues to work with partners to bring travellers secure and
convenient payment options and contribute towards the development of a
transformative electronic payments ecosystem to facilitate this,"
Ojomuyide says.