Tokyo overtakes Paris and London in a new era of global tourism

<ul><li>In its fifteenth year, Saffrons publishes its most global City Brand Barometer.</li><li>Spain remains the only country with two in the Top 10, Barcelona and Madrid.</li><li>Abu Dhabi signals the rise of Middle Eastern city brands, leaping from a 2020 One to Watch to a Top 20 Challenger. Dubai remains strong in the top 10. </li><li>Riyadh and Jeddah debut with promising city brand assets. </li><li>North American city brands dominate buzz outside of the Top 20. </li></ul><h2>London/Madrid, November 10 2022 </h2>
<a href="https://saffron-consultants.com/">Saffron Brand Consultants</a> has launched the Tourism City Brand Barometer 2022, a proprietary biannual study that measures which cities from around the world have the strongest brands to attract international tourism. Overtaking Paris and London, Tokyo has built the strongest tourism city brand according to this new research conducted by the independent global brand consultancy. 
After the Business edition in 2021, the 2022 City Brand Barometer analyses the highly competitive post-pandemic landscape, and measures 104 of the most relevant cities to the global tourism industry. To define the strength of each city’s ‘tourism brand’ Saffron assessed their ‘buzz,’ or the perception of each city, and combined it with their ‘assets’ such as weather, cost, number of attractions, overall infrastructure and development. Breakout lists highlighted include the Top Ten, the Challengers, the Underperformers and the Ones to Watch. 
First released in 2008, the City Brand Barometer has analysed city tourism and business brands throughout the years. This is the first CBB tourism report in which Tokyo has reached number one. The CBB 2022 report includes comparative case studies on city brands in Spain, Japan, and Saudi Arabia, and Challengers Abu Dhabi and Jaipur, and One to Watch Miami. 
Ben Knapp, Chief Growth Officer and place brand practice leader at Saffron commented: “As travel reaches pre-pandemic levels, competition for the attention and spending power of tourists is more intense than we’ve seen over the past 15 years. This implies that in order to be relevant and differentiated, cities need to be clear on what assets their brand is built on and how they can best generate buzz internationally.”

The results

These cities represent the strongest tourism city brands globally. 
1. Tokyo 2. London 3. Paris 4. New York City 5. Barcelona 6. Dubai 7. Singapore 8. Amsterdam 9. Madrid 10. Rome

These are the cities with great tourism brands that look set to challenge the Top 10 in the near future.
11. Sydney 12. Beijing 13. Abu Dhabi 14. San Francisco 15. Kyoto 16. Berlin 17. Vienna 18. Jaipur 19. Osaka 20. Bangkok

These cities, including new entrants, are in the Top 20 globally for assets but have an average or low buzz score, signifying great potential for growth.
24. Fukuoka 31. Moscow 32. Brisbane 34. Riyadh 35. Seville 37. Prague 39. Antalya 47. Jeddah 48. Yokohama 50. Chiang Mai

These cities are the ones we believe will be making upward moves in our ranking in the near future due to the strength of their buzz.
21. Los Angeles 22. Vancouver 33. Miami 36. Cape Town 43. Atlanta 44. Hong Kong 51. Chicago 56. Toronto 59. Venice 65. Las Vegas

City Brand Barometer methodology

Saffron created the City Brand Barometer in 2008 to explore which cities worldwide have built the strongest brands. This year, we evaluated 104 cities from an international tourism perspective. Which cities are doing this most successfully? Who has the best reputation? Which global cities are underperforming, and who are the tourism leaders of tomorrow?

Saffron created the City Brand Barometer in 2008 to explore which cities worldwide have built the strongest brands. This year, we evaluated 104 cities from an international tourism perspective. Which cities are doing this most successfully? Who has the best reputation? Which global cities are underperforming, and who are the tourism leaders of tomorrow?

We looked at two important variables: assets and buzz. 
1. The strengths of a city.
Assets are factors that are important to global travellers such as weather, cost, and the number of attractions. We also analysed aggregate data that indicate the overall infrastructure and development needed for a large influx of visitors such as travel infrastructure, crime, healthcare, and hygiene. 

2. The reputation of a city. 
Buzz constitutes the degree to which a city is known and positively perceived by the outside world. These values were established through a Saffron survey of over 1500 people from 10 different countries. The survey looked at the perception and reputation of the 104 cities on our list to see which were highly considered, which had top-of-mind awareness, and which were seen as being impacted by over-tourism. Alongside this survey, we also incorporated other indicators to evaluate the quantity and sentiment of the conversation surrounding each city.

Saffron releases 2022 Tourism City Brand Barometer report on 104 cities

Related links

City Brand Barometer 2025, Tourism edition coming soon

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Saffron releases 2022 Tourism City Brand Barometer report on 104 cities

Related links

Related work

City Brand Barometer 2025, Tourism edition coming soon

The impulse of a new generation

AI on tap, creativity on top