Anholt-GfK: Tokyo records greatest score gain of all 50 cities

31 Jan 2018 2067 | World Travel News

The latest Anholt-GfK City Brands Index (CBISM) reveals that Paris retains its position at the top. For the fourth time since the survey began, the global public regards Paris as the highest rated out of 50 cities. Australian cities also show improvement: Sydney overtakes New York (4th) to earn a spot back in the top three and Melbourne jumps to 7th place, surpassing Amsterdam (8th) and Berlin (10th). These are some of the findings from CBISM, a biennial study conducted in September and October of 2017.

Score change
2017 rank	City	2015 rank	2017 vs. 2015
1	Paris	1	+0.51
2	London	2	+0.52
3	Sydney	4	+0.97
4	New York	3	+0.67
5	Los Angeles	5	+0.91
6	Rome	6	+0.65
7	Melbourne	9	+1.64
8	Amsterdam	8	+1.36
9	San Francisco	n/a	+n/a
10	Berlin	7	+0.75
CBI[SM] scores range from 1-100. Score changes: small: +/-0.26-0.50; medium: +/-0.51-1.00; large: > +/-1.00

The study evaluates the power and appeal of each city's image, providing a holistic and detailed perspective based on six key dimensions:

Presence (the city's international status and standing)
Place (its physical outdoors aspect and transport)
Prerequisites (basic requirements, such as affordable accommodations and the standard of public amenities)
People (friendliness, cultural diversity, how safe one feels)
Pulse (interesting things to do)
Potential (the economic and educational opportunities available).

Western cities tend to dominate the top half of cities, and in previous years, Western cities benefitted noticeably more than Eastern cities in the global public's estimations. 2017 shows a change in fortunes with marked improvement for many that is not constrained by region or developmental stage. For example, Tokyo is one of only a handful of non-Western cities that resides within the top half of cities. After experiencing a score decline in 2013, Tokyo has rebuilt and grown its image in the two consecutive CBISM studies. Tokyo enjoys the greatest score gain of any city (+1.79) in 2017's CBISM to draw to a tie for 11th position with Vancouver, surpassing Madrid, Barcelona, Washington D.C., Toronto, and Vienna.