Dubai shines in inaugural Brand Finance City Index

“Dubai has performed well across multiple ‘business & investment’ attributes, ranking first for ‘future growth potential’, second in ‘strong and stable economy’, and third behind only New York and London as a ‘city of global significance’,” the report said.

London topped the Brand Finance City Index, followed by New York, Paris, Los Angeles, Sydney, Singapore, Tokyo, San Francisco, Dubai and Amsterdam.

Abu Dhabi, ranking 28th, is the second best city brand in the region.

“Abu Dhabi performs very well in ‘business & investment’ too, ranking ahead of Dubai and claiming top spots globally on a number of attributes, including second in ‘attractive corporate taxation’, third in ‘attractive personal taxation’, fourth in ‘easy to do business in’, seventh in ‘great for startups and innovation’, and ninth in easy to find employment,” the report added.

Doha (65th), Cairo (67th), Jeddah (77th) and Riyadh (78th) also featured in the list.

The inaugural Brand Finance City Index rankings are based on a global survey of close to 15,000 members of the public conducted in April 2023 in 20 countries on all continents to measure perceptions of the world’s top 100 cities.

To arrive at a comprehensive assessment of the city brands in the ranking, alongside measuring familiarity, respondents were asked about the general reputation and their personal consideration of each city as a place to live, work locally, work remotely, study, retire, visit, or invest in.

Andrew Campbell, Managing Director of Brand Finance Middle East, said: “Middle Eastern cities have built very strong brands in a much shorter time than many of their European counterparts. The last few decades have seen an exponential growth of business and investment opportunities across all major cities in the region. Efforts to raise the profile of the tourism offering are likely to further increase the familiarity and overall standing of Middle Eastern city brands globally.”

London takes the crown

With a score of 84.6 out of 100, driven by its high familiarity among respondents worldwide, London has recorded stronger brand perceptions than any other city in the study.

David Haigh, Chairman & CEO of Brand Finance, said: “London’s exceptional performance in the index can be attributed to its global familiarity. Coming first on this particular measure, London has a huge advantage over its peers, leading to its success in the ranking overall as the world’s best city. Knowing a city allows the public to form positive perceptions about it – to recognise its reputation and to consider it as the preferred place to live, work, study, retire, visit, or invest. High familiarity means a deeper understanding of its qualities and a broader reach of its appeal, allowing the city to draw significant economic benefits from inbound migration, investment, and tourism.”