Saffron releases 2022 Tourism City Brand Barometer report on 104 cities

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

• In its fifteenth year, Saffron’s publishes its most global City Brand Barometer.
• Spain remains the only country with two in the Top 10, Barcelona and Madrid.
• 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.
• Riyadh and Jeddah debut with promising city brand assets.
• North American city brands dominate buzz outside of the Top 20.

LONDON & MADRID–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Saffron Brand Consultants 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.”

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Access the full report, results, methodology, and case studies at https://cbb22.saffron-consultants.com/

Visual assets here.

Contacts

Media contact and interview requests:
Liz Moe

liz.moe@saffron-consultants.com