A survey of more than 54,000 travellers by TripAdvisor has revealed that Tokyo, Japan offers the world’s best tourist experience, while India’s Mumbai offers the worst.
TripAdvisor, which operates in 39 countries, picked 37 major cities and asked its users to evaluate them based on their travel experience on a scale of 0 to 10. The survey was sent out to the users who had previously posted a review on the site.
Tokyo beat out New York and Barcelona as the city with “the best overall experience” and ranked among the top 10 in 13 out of the 16 sections in the survey, and topped 5 of them, including the categories “helpful locals,” “best taxi services,” and “cleanest streets.”
While scoring just over 9 for “best overall experience,” Tokyo’s lowest rating was 7.02 for “best value for money,” leaving it in 20th place in that category. Of the 37 cities surveyed, Mumbai ranked lowest in the best overall experience category with 7.13, trailing the Dominican Republic’s Punta Cana score of 7.32 and Moscow’s 7.55. Below is the chart of the top and worst performers in this survey:
Overall Top Performers:
| Category | First Place | Second place | Third place |
| Helpful locals | Tokyo | Cape Town | Lisbon |
| Friendliest taxi drivers | Dubrovnik | Tokyo | Singapore |
| Best taxi services | Tokyo | Singapore | Dublin |
| Cleanest streets | Tokyo | Singapore | Berlin |
| Ease of getting around | Vienna | Singapore | Berlin |
| Best public transport | Tokyo | Vienna | Berlin |
| Best value for money | Budapest | Lisbon | Hanoi |
| Comfort traveling alone | Singapore | Tokyo | Vienna |
| Best for shopping | Dubai | New York City | London |
| Best for hotels | Dubai | Cancun | Bangkok |
| Best for restaurants | New York City | Cape Town | Tokyo |
| Best for attractions | Rome | New York City | Paris |
| Family-friendliness | Stockholm | Singapore | Copenhagen |
| Best for culture | Rome | Vienna | Paris |
| Best for nightlife | New York City | London | Tokyo |
| Best overall experience | Tokyo | New York City | Barcelona |
Overall Low Rankers:
| Category | Last place | Second last | Third last |
| Helpful locals | Moscow | Beijing | Marrakech |
| Friendliest taxi drivers | Moscow | Beijing | Brussels |
| Best taxi services | Moscow | Beijing | Kuala Lumpur |
| Cleanest streets | Mumbai | Marrakech | Bangkok |
| Ease of getting around | Mumbai | Punta Cana | Marrakech |
| Best public transport | Marrakech | Hanoi | Sharm el Sheikh |
| Best value for money | Moscow | Rio de Janeiro | Copenhagen |
| Comfort traveling alone | Punta Cana | Sharm el Sheikh | Marrakech |
| Best for shopping | Punta Cana | Moscow | Rio de Janeiro |
| Best for hotels | Moscow | Rio de Janeiro | Brussels |
| Best for restaurants | Punta Cana | Moscow | Marrakech |
| Best for attractions | Punta Cana | Sharm el Sheikh | Mumbai |
| Family-friendliness | Marrakech | Moscow | Mumbai |
| Best for culture | Sharm el Sheikh | Punta Cana | Dubai |
| Best for nightlife | Marrakech | Punta Cana | Hanoi |
| Best overall experience | Mumbai | Punta Cana | Moscow |
The news will serve as a welcome boost for the Japanese government as it looks to attract 20 million foreign visitors to the country per year by 2020 and 30 million by 2030. Japan managed to top 10 million foreign visitors for the first time in 2013.
Picture by Moyan Brenn on Flickr
