Bucharest, second to last in a top of 100 most welcoming cities in the world

Although it ranks quite low, Bucharest has made it on a list of 100 most welcoming cities in the world for tourists. The Romanian capital ranks second to last in the top, followed only by Budapest, which ranks 100th. Holiday website TravelBird has complied the list. To create the ranking, TravelBird analysed the global top 500 tourist destinations based on factors that can make a visitor feel welcome, such as a welcoming port of entry (airport, train station), citizen’s happiness, openness to host tourists, and English language proficiency. Also, it asked over 15,000 travel journalists how welcoming they found each city based on their personal experiences. The travel website then weighted all of these factors with a formula that measures over-tourism in each destination to determine the final 100 most welcoming cities in the world. “This research highlights a precise selection of popular cities around the world in order to give an international overview, meaning there are undoubtedly many welcoming cities not included in this study,” according to TravelBird. According to this list, Singapore is the most welcoming city in the world. The city scored the maximum 10 for welcoming port of entry. It also scored high for safety (8.95), openness to host tourists at home (8.60) and expert opinion (7.90). The top five is completed by Stockholm, Helsinki, San Francisco, and Rotterdam. Meanwhile, Bucharest is at number 99 in the ranking. It got the best scores for safety (6.50) and English proficiency (5.98), but very low scores for port of entry (2.66) and tourism carrying capacity by city and residents (3.22). Its overall score is 3.82, slightly higher than the city ranked on the 100th place, namely Hungary’s capital Budapest (total score of 3.74). Find the full list here. EIU: Bucharest, among world’s cheapest cities Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com