Online travel specialists TravelBird have released a study ranking international cities according to how welcome they are in relation to their levels of over-tourism. Singapore is revealed as the most welcoming city, successfully managing their high visitor levels with the best airport in the world and cultivation of a safe city ecosystem. Warsaw, Poland ranks in position number 79.
They first analysed the global top 500 tourist destinations (taken from the UN-WTO) based on factors that can make a visitor feel welcome, such as a welcoming port of entry (airport, train station etc.), citizens’ happiness, safety, openness to host tourists, and English language proficiency. Furthermore, they ran an expert poll asking over 15,000 travel journalists how welcoming they found each city based on their personal experiences.
Further findings from this study:
• Copenhagen, Denmark is the most welcoming city according to travel experts.
• Singapore scores the best for port of entry.
• Abu Dhabi, UAE is the safest city in the index.
• Oslo, Norway is the happiest city.
• Dublin, Ireland scores highest for English proficiency.
• Paris, France are the most willing to open their homes to tourists in this study.
• Doha, Qatar, Manama, Bahrain and Lima, Peru have the lowest levels of over-tourism.
• The Netherlands is home to cities that feature in both the top 10 and bottom 10 for over-tourism. Amsterdam ranks as the 3rd worst city for over-tourism, while Rotterdam ranks as the 4th best city for low levels of over-tourism.
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