Euromonitor International: Top 100 City Destinations in 2021
London, 4th January, 2022 - 2021 marked a period of positive development for the travel and tourism sector as countries increased vaccination efforts. Air routes opened and travel restrictions were lifted, leading to green shoots of recovery for many cities across the globe.
Using Euromonitor’s Top 100 City Destinations Index, we take a closer look at which cities are recovering faster than others, strongest tourism growth potential, as well as areas of attention for tourism strategy developers.
Instead of our traditional approach ranking cities based on the number of international arrivals, the 2021 index is based on six key pillars including Economic and Business Performance, Tourism Performance, Tourism Infrastructure, Tourism Policy and Attractiveness, Health and Safety, and Sustainability.
Out of the six key pillars, sustainability emerged as a winner this year. Due to the halt of travel in 2020, cities were able to reflect on the importance of responsible tourism with evidence in the temporary improvement in air pollution levels.
Looking at the overall performance, cities in Europe and the Americas showed the most progress, whilst cities from Asia and Australasia lags a little behind.
The top 10 cities in our global index for 2021 are
Paris
Dubai
Amsterdam
Madrid
Rome
Berlin
New York City
London
Munich
Barcelona
With eight of the top 10 cities in Europe, this region is making strong strides towards recovery. Paris is in first place, with the highest ranking in tourism performance boosted by American and Asian tourists returning to the city.
Cities in Germany and Spain also feature prominently among the top 10, mainly due to tourism performance and attractive tourism policy.
Dubai is in second place, ranking the highest in terms of health and safety. With stringent measures for all public places and tourist hotspots resulting in high visitor confidence.
Asia
Looking at economic and business performance, Asia is recovering ahead of other regions, with Singapore, Taipei and Hong Kong in 1st, 2nd and 3rd place respectively.
Overall performance wise, the top 10 cities in Asia are
For more details on how each cities performed in this region and the full list of the top 100 Cities from our global index, download the complimentary whitepaper Top 100 City Destinations Index 2021.
