INTERNATIONAL. Europe dominates the top placings in Euromonitor International’s Top 100 City Destinations Index for 2021, a report delivering multi-layered analysis of key and emerging city hubs.
The index tracks 54 different metrics across six key pillars to arrive at an overall attractiveness score. The pillars are Tourism Performance, Economic and Business Performance, Tourism Policy and Attractiveness, Tourism Infrastructure, Health and Safety and Sustainability.
The report authors note that measuring city tourism performance is increasingly paramount for stakeholders in the sector given the changing nature of city tourism, global crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic and shifting investment priorities.
During 2021, 52 cities improved their ranks in the index. Cities from Europe and the Americas showed the most progress with 67% and 65%, respectively, showing a positive ranking movement.
Those from Asia and Australasia, meanwhile, showed weaker improvement with only 21% improving their ranking.
Eight of the top ten cities in the Top 100 City Destinations Index are European with Asian locations notably absent from the top positions. Tokyo is the highest-ranking Asian city, occupying 15th place.
Paris heads the list in the overall index. According to the report’s metrics, the city has the highest ranking in terms of Tourism Performance and second highest ranking in terms of Tourism Policy and Infrastructure globally.
The authors observe that Paris’s performance was boosted by American and Asian tourists returning. Also noted was that the city still awaits the comeback of British tourists, one of its main source markets.
Paris is in the bottom quadrant in terms of Health and Safety, despite increased efforts to boost vaccination rates in what Euromonitor describes as a vaccine-hesitant population.
Dubai occupies the number two slot in the index, having held the leading place in last year’s rankings. The city has been open to international tourists since July 2020 and government efforts to mobilise and support the travel and tourism sector have been pivotal, noted Euromonitor.
Dubai is the only city from an emerging country to feature in the top ten and ranks highest in terms of Health and Safety among the top ten cities in the index.
The authors observed that the vaccination process in Dubai is easy, vaccination rates are high and stringent safety measures are in place for all public places and tourist spots. As a result, there is increasing visitor confidence among international visitors and locals.
German cities made positive strides in the index this year, with Berlin increasing its ranking by two places, reaching sixth place. Munich improved by nine places to enter the top ten.
While the performance of these cities is relatively stable across all pillars, improvements in rankings were due to strong Tourism Performance and Tourism Policy and Attractiveness metrics, according to Euromonitor.
Spanish cities also feature prominently among the top ten. Barcelona increased in ranking by six places to tenth and Madrid ranks fourth. Madrid is placed highest in terms of Sustainability of all cities in the top 100 and third overall in terms of Tourism Policy and Attractiveness.
