Eight out of the top ten cities in Euromonitor International’s annual ‘Top 100 City Destinations Index 2022’ are from Europe.
Paris remains the world’s most attractive city destination, followed by Dubai and Amsterdam.
The report compares 57 metrics across six key pillars for 100 city destinations, to create an overall city attractiveness score. The six key pillars include: (1) economic and business performance, (2) tourism performance, (3) tourism infrastructure, (4) tourism policy and attractiveness, (5) health and safety, and (6) sustainability.
Madrid came in fourth, while Rome rounded up the top 5. The good standing of European destinations in the Index is largely attributable to two important pillars – Tourism Policy and Attractiveness, and Tourism Infrastructure.
The top 10 cities in our global index for 2022 are:
1. Paris
2. Dubai
3. Amsterdam
4. Madrid
5. Rome
6. London
7. Munich
8. Berlin
9. Barcelona
10. New York
Tourism recovering from Covid blues as pandemic restrictions ease
The key factor behind the resilient recovery of global cities was strong rebound of international tourism, projected to register 112% growth in 2022 in terms of inbound spending. Intra-regional travel, easing of Covid-19 travel restrictions, and value-driven tourism, further boosted their appeal.
Nadejda Popova, Senior Project Manager – Services & Payments at Euromonitor, said: “The strong rebound of international tourism, following the removal of COVID-19 travel restrictions, the increased interest in value-driven tourism offerings, and consumer preferences for domestic travel and short-haul flights, marked dynamic movements in the ranking in 2022. This allowed the most proactive cities to improve their rank in the Health and Safety, Tourism Performance, and Tourism Policy, and Attractiveness pillars.
“Paris has retained the title of the world’s leading city following exceptional performance across the Tourism Policy and Attractiveness, Tourism Infrastructure and Tourism Performance pillars, and was once again crowned the world’s best-performing destination.”
The travel and tourism industry is facing a new set of challenges with rising labour shortages, inflationary pressures, and growing economic uncertainty. This is increasing the pressure on urban environments and cities to improve efficiency, mitigate the impacts of climate change, support smart urban development, boost green credentials, and enhance the tourism offer in a post-pandemic period.
The full report is sold for EUR 1,100 on euromonitor.com.
