Generating trillions of dollars in revenue each year, tourism is one of the world’s major industries. It has a massive economic effect, creating jobs, generating income, and boosting local economies. Travellers, on the other hand, have a direct impact on a city’s well-being by staying in its hotels, dining at local restaurants, shopping at artisan markets, and booking tours with local guides.
According to the latest edition of Euromonitor’s Top 100 City Destinations Index, the top performing locations are Paris, Dubai, Amsterdam, Madrid, and Rome. But are these cities where tourists feel most at ease, and are there equally appealing but less expensive options? Team at SuperCasinoSites decided to help travellers choose their next destination by rating 100 cities based on four criteria: cost of living, safety, air quality, and the amount of sunshine these cities get on average (i.e. the number of sunlight hours per year).
SuperCasinoSites decided to look at travel destinations from this perspective to determine whether the most well-known locations really deliver the most rewarding experience and which cities, if all else being equal, are the cheapest to visit. A curious finding is that five of the ten sunniest cities are also among the safest, and one, Cairo, is the most affordable to live in
While half of the cities on our list are in Europe, the two best-scoring destinations are Chiang Mai and Antalya, both located in Asia. Surprisingly, Edinburgh, the highest-ranked UK city, only ranks 50th overall.
Key takeaways from report
◉ The city with the best overall score is Chiang Mai, Thailand with 324 points, making it the top travel destination that will increase your happiness without costing you a fortune.
◉ Antalya, Turkey, and Granada, Spain, follow closely in second and third position with 300 and 295 points, respectively.
◉ Three of the top 10 cities on the ranking are located in Spain – Granada (3rd place with an overall score of 295 points), Malaga (5th place with 288 points), and Seville (9th place with 278 points)
◉ Two of the top 10 cities are located in Portugal, namely Lisbon (4th with 289 points) and Porto (6th place with 281 points).
◉ At the bottom of the ranking, we find Dublin, London, and Paris as the destinations with relatively poor air quality, low safety levels and few hours of sunshine, while having high cost of living at the same time.
To create the ranking each city was assigned a score ranging from 100 to 1 points based on how high it scored in that particular criterion. For example, 100 points were given to the location with the lowest cost of living index and 1 for the one with the highest prices, hence ranking last. This was done for each of the four mood-boosting factors.
Of course, all of the 100 cities explored in the study are worth a visit as they all boast unique selling points, such as tasty local cuisine, picturesque scenery, friendly locals, or wonderful weather. However, neither time nor budget are unlimited for most of us, so team decided to focus on the five top-ranked locations.