Sydney voted number one city!

Australia’s international gateway, Sydney was announced as the number one city in the world at the prestigious Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards in New York today.

NSW Minister for Tourism and Sport and Recreation, Sandra Nori, said for a record 11th time, the discerning readers of one of America’s most popular and influential travel magazines have voted Sydney number one city in the world.

“There’s no doubt that Sydney is everyone’s favourite city—recent Federal Government figures show that Sydney’s visitor nights increased by 20.9% outstripping Melbourne’s Commonwealth Games inflated figures of 18.6% and Brisbane’s flat performance at 0.3%,” Ms Nori said.

“Sydney’s enviable mix of events, beauty, sophistication and relaxed vibe is what Sydneysiders love about it and it’s also what makes it so attractive to visitors,” she said.

“The readers of Condé Nast Traveler magazine are sophisticated travellers who actively seek out new and exciting destinations. It’s a great credit to Sydneysiders and our tourism industry that we have remained one of their favourite world cities for so long,” she said.

Some 28,000 Condé Nast Traveler readers voted on different global cities on a variety of criteria, including ambience; friendliness; culture-sights; restaurants; lodging and shopping.

Sydney scored best city in the world with a score of 87.7, followed by Florence (86.8), San Francisco (85.9), Bangkok (85.8) and Vancouver (82.2).

“Federal Tourism Minster Fran Bailey has been trying to downplay our tourism figures recently but this award shows that Sydney is still first in the mind of US visitors,” Ms Nori said.

Ms Nori also congratulated the Park Hyatt Sydney (92.5) and Lilianfels Blue Mountains (91.1) who scored second and third in the top 15 hotels in the Asia Pacific.

The awards ceremony was held at the Museum of Natural History in New York.

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NSW enjoyed around 3.9 million visitor nights from US tourists in the year to June, contributing an estimated $559 million to the State’s economy.

The NSW Government has continued to build Sydney’s global image investing $7 million in its powerful There’s no place in the world like Sydney tourism brand and seasonal campaigns.

Over the past decade, Sydney has received more than 60 tourism awards recognising: its stunning beauty and location; the quality of its restaurants, hotels and tourist experiences; as well as its proximity to many wonderful regional experiences.