Global Blue rank 25 Asia-Pacific cities to find the world’s best shopping destinations

The Globe Shopper Index has found Sydney is the sixth best shopping destination in Asia-Pacific, only a few points behind Singapore and ahead of Bangkok. Hong Kong topped the Index as the most attractive city for international travel shoppers in Asia-Pacific. 

Global Blue's expanded Globe Shopper Index adds 25 Asia-Pacific cities to the existing 33 European cities and ranks them on the experience they provide to international travel shoppers. The rankings are based on five categories covering shops, affordability, convenience, hotels & transport and culture & climate. Global Blue developed the Globe Shopper Index in partnership with the Economist Intelligence Unit as an essential planning tool for all international travel shoppers searching for their next shopping destination in Europe and Asia-Pacific.

Global Blue President & CEO, Per Setterberg, commented on the index and website: "I want to congratulate all the Asia-Pacific cities for their success in attracting globe shoppers. Expansion of the Globe Shopper Index to include cities in Asia-Pacific demonstrates Global Blue’s dedication to ensuring the best possible experience for travel shoppers.

“Thanks to Global Blue’s Tax Free Shopping, globe shoppers from Asia have long been enjoying excellent value shopping overseas, now they can use the Globe Shopper Index to discover their ideal shopping city based on their personal priorities and share it with their friends online,” added Setterberg.

A Globe Shopper City

Sydney performed strongly in the Culture and Climate category particularly, where it ranked No. 1 overall, due to the many tourist attractions in the city and the quality and range of restaurants. In the Shops category the city came fifth, helped by the large choice of stores and malls for visitors, which were the best in the Index. Sydney also scored well in the Convenience category based on its long Sunday trading hours and the city’s safe environment, and was recognised for the quality of its public transport.

However, Sydney was pushed down the rankings because it is relatively expensive. The city’s hotel costs and the price of dining out and drinking were higher than the Index average. The limited weekday opening hours of shops in Sydney, and a shopping culture that restricts bargaining opportunities also affected the city’s ranking.

A Shopping City Suited to You

Using the Globe Shopper Index, globe shoppers can research shopping destinations around the world to find everything from a great place to lunch, an open-all-hours shopping culture, great prices, to luxury goods.

From today globe shoppers can visit www.globeshopperindex.com, select the features most important to them and find the cities that best match their preferences.  In addition, preferred cities can be shared online with friends to gather shopping tips.

Index Table

* Cities were chosen from Asia-Pacific countries with GDP greater than €50bn, with bigger economies being represented by more than one city. As a result other Australian cities were not measured as part of the Globe Shopper Index. More information on the methodology can be found below.