Sydney has been named the world’s best city in a survey conducted by Conde Nast Traveller. The top-10 global cities rankings are part of the publication’s annual Readers’ Choice Awards for 2024, which launched on October 1 in the UK. Sydney, which ranked no. 1 with a score of 92.26, was praised by the Conde Nast Traveller UK for its “unique, indoor-outdoor way of life”. Sydney beat out tourism hotspots spanning five continents, including Valencia in Spain (92.78), Singapore (92.47), Hong Kong (91.72) and Stockholm, Sweden (91.11), which ranked second to fifth place respectively.
According to the New York Post, Sydney was also named the world’s second-most friendly city, with a score of 93.85, behind Singapore, with 94.84 points, while Sydney hotel The Fullerton was crowned the best hotel in Australasia.
Conde Nast Traveler US also unveiled its Readers’ Choice Awards this week, with Sydney placing third in the US awards list of the best cities in the world, describing it as “an ideal getaway no matter the season”. Australian hotel Ritz-Carlton Melbourne was named the best hotel in Australia and New Zealand for 2024.
The UK and US Readers’ Choice Awards winners were chosen based on the votes of more than half a million survey respondents, the Post reported.
“If you’ve experienced a snippet of life Down Under, you’ve probably fallen hard for the unique, indoor-outdoor way of life the Aussies embrace so well,” Traveller said about Sydney.
Moreover, the publication also had readers vote on their favourite airlines with Air New Zealand coming first, followed by Singapore Airlines, Qatar Airways, Emirates and British Airways.
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Meanwhile, in September, Sydney was also named Oceania’s Leading City Destination in the World Travel Awards 2024.
With results like that, you’d think Sydney was in the midst of an international tourism boom. However, according to the Post, the reality is somewhat different. According to the most recent International Visitor Survey data from Tourism Research Australia, Sydney welcomed only 3,446,000 foreign visitors in June, a figure still 16 per cent below the same period in 2019.
But John O’Sullivan, chief executive of Experience Co and former Tourism Australia managing director, told the Sydney Morning Herald, that the stellar awards results could go a long way to putting Sydney on the radar of high-value international travellers – that is, those likely to spend more, stay longer and travel further within Australia.