Which are the Cities that have the Best Reputation in the World?

When it comes to your next vacation destination, you might not realise it - but the reputation of the city that you are considering going to plays an important role in your vacation decision-making process. According to the latest study done by the Reputation Institute, both Sydney and Melbourne in Australia should give themselves a pat on the back, because they finished No. 1 and No. 2 respectively in the survey of most reputable cities.

About The Reputation Survey

According to the Reputation Institute, over 19,000 people from G8 countries were surveyed in order to make up the list. The G8 countries include Russia, Canada, the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, and France. The responses were gauged on a number of different factors for each city. These factors included safety, economy, the friendliness of citizens, environment, and politics.

According to the managing partner at the Reputation Institute, those cities that have better reputations traditionally are far more likely to gain foreign job seekers, visitors, and investments. In fact, more points on the “reputable city” scale means a correlated increase the next year.

Europe A Dominant Factor

It is safe to say that when talking about the most reputable cities, Europe is a major factor. In fact, when looking at the top 20 most reputable cities, 15 of them were from Europe. In fact, aside from the aforementioned top two spots, the only other non-European city in the top 10 is Vancouver (at number five). One of the largest changes came from Austria. While Vienna might have been the most respected city in the world in 2014, it was relegated to fourth most respected city in 2015.

Asia On The Rise

Despite the fact that Europe still dominates in the most reputable cities rankings, it is obvious when looking at the listings that Asian cities are quickly becoming more popular as well. Cities such as Mumbai, Karachi, and Seoul saw some impressive numbers.

Tokyo (No. 12 on the list) has the highest GDP and biggest population among the cities surveyed. It is also the most highly regarded city in Asia that made it onto the list. Osaka closes out the top 20 at number 20. The highest reputation score growth came from Seoul, South Korea (a 15.1% increase from 2014) and Pakistan’s biggest city – Karachi – with a 14% leap from last year.

US Cities Are Great – But Not Very Likeable

Some might be surprised to see a lack of United States cities on the list. In fact, the best-scoring US city on the list comes in at number 24 (San Francisco). According to the research, there was a negative emotional halo that could explain why most of the US cities on the list suffered.

To explain this a bit better, it is important to note that New York scores tremendously on what the researchers call ‘rational attributes.' New York was number 10 in Effective Administration, number six in Appealing Environment, and number two in Advanced Economy. Logically this should mean that New York easily makes it into the top 10 when looking at things rationally.

However, there are some emotional barriers when it comes to thinking about the U.S. brand that prevents travelers from embracing it wholeheartedly. This is a negative emotional halo, which is not only relevant to New York, but the United States as a whole.

Other cities that dealt with the emotional halos were Tel Aviv, Moscow, and Las Vegas. However, even with all those cities included, New York scored horribly low.

The Top 10 Most Reputable Cities

Those who want to know the ranking. The top 10 was as follows: