The South Korean capital city Seoul ranked as the seventh most visited city by foreign travelers in 2016, an industry report showed Sunday.

The ranking is up three notches from a year earlier, with the city attracting 12.29 million foreign travelers, the Korea Tourism Organization said, citing data from payment-services provider MasterCard Inc.

According to the report, Bangkok topped the list with 19.41 million visitors, followed by London with 15.45 million, Paris with 15.45 million, Dubai with 14.87 million and Singapore with 13.11 million.

Foreign tourists spent the most money in Dubai, with an average of US$1,916.6 per person in 2016, the report showed.

Money spent by travelers to Asia outpaced the amount for Europe and North America last year. The combined amount spent by a visitors to Asia last year stood at $92.1 billion, followed by Europe with $74.7 billion and North America with $55 billion. (Yonhap)