Despite the increase in costs, tourists are spending more in the cities they’ve visited the past year.
According to the Top 100 City Destinations Index 2022, an annual report by Euromonitor International, travel and tourism has finally begun to recover since the start of the pandemic.
Plenty of people are excited to travel again, especially for leisure and to see family and friends they were unable to visit due to lockdowns and quarantine.
Because of this, there’s been a trend of higher tourist spending with a growth of 112% compared to 2021. This rate is expected to rise this year, with tourist spending projected to reach $1.4 trillion.
The Top 10 City Destinations were evaluated by six categories: economic and business performance, tourism policy and attractiveness, health and safety, tourism performance, tourism infrastructure, and sustainability.
In 2022, Paris took the lead based on the city’s performance regarding tourism. The City of Lights was closely followed by Dubai in the second position, while New York was the only other non-European city in the Top 10 (ranking 10th overall).
Other cities on the list include regular tourist destinations such as Amsterdam, Madrid, Rome, London, Munich, Berlin, and Barcelona.
While several Asian cities such as Singapore and Tokyo also increased in rank, the region itself had a mixed performance because of the travel restrictions in some countries.
U.S. cities such as New York and Orlando actually surpassed Dubai in terms of the growth of international arrivals.
With the loosening of travel restrictions, mandatory quarantine and PCR tests are no longer required by many countries. This is leading to an increase in inbound arrivals in cities worldwide.
Travel and tourism seem to be on a steady path to recovery which is expected to continue in 2023, with a growth of 40% compared to last year. As this trend continues, there’s been a focus on sustainability, prompting more mindful and responsible traveling.
Banner photo via Pexels by Humphrey Muleba.
