Invest News DetailHurriyet – Türkiye’s megacity is set to see a 30 percent hike in tourism revenues this year, according to the MasterCard Worldwide’s latest Index of Global Destination Cities. Effectively becoming the growth rate champion of tourism revenues in the 132 surveyed cities, Istanbul is expected to earn USD 10.2 billion from its estimated 9.4 million foreign visitors. According to the Index, the historic city already left behind global hot spots like New York, Rome, Amsterdam and Milan in visitor numbers and expects to welcome 20 percent more tourists in 2011 over the last year, the third highest rate following Barcelona and Kuala Lumpur. Analyzing the world’s popular tourism destinations by visitor numbers and revenues, the Index also evaluates the status of each city as a node of the global economy by assessing its connectivity with other destinations. Among the 132 cities Dubai and Singapore have a lot in common with Istanbul such as a central location in a rapidly growing region but neither of these rivals have the rich historic and cultural heritage that Istanbul has, according to Yuwa Hedrick-Wong, one of the economic advisers of MasterCard Worldwide. “Emboldened by last year’s ‘European Capital of Culture’ title Istanbul will remain in the top 10 tourism destinations of the world for the next decade..”, he added.