The 20 Most Popular Tourist Cities in 2015

It's hard out there for a tourist -- selfie sticks knock into other selfie sticks, and tourist traps are as abundant as general hatred from locals.

But a good tourist will not be kept down, as evidenced by MasterCard's just-released, annual Global Destination Cities Index, which ranks 132 important world cities based on international visitor count and amount of visitor spending. Depending on how you feel about large crowds and people inexplicably taking photos with their iPads, it could just be read as a list of places to avoid. Or, you know, probably the most essential travel bucket list.

London is the world's top-ranked destination city (for the second year in a row), with 18.82 million international visitors expected in 2015. Coming in a very close second is Bangkok, with an expected 18.24 million. Paris is third, with 16.06 million. New York and LA crack the top 20 as well, but the list is largely dominated by non-US cities.

Check out the full list below, and be sure to get that selfie stick ready for Big Ben.

20. Los Angeles
19. Prague
18. Vienna
17. Shanghai
16. Tapei
15. Milan
14. Rome
13. Amsterdam
12. Barcelona
11. Tokyo
10. Hong Kong
9. Seoul
8. Kuala Lumpur
7. Singapore
6. New York
5. Istanbul
4. Dubai
3. Paris
2. Bangkok
1. London

Lucy Meilus is a staff writer for Thrillist. She is the most annoying tourist you will ever meet. Follow her on Twitter at @Lucymeilus and send news tips to news@thrillist.com.