Brisbane has been declared the best city in Australia for older tourists, in a new study that also rated the Sunshine State capital third best in the world for seniors to visit.
The rankings was calculated by travel insurance comparison site InsureMyTrip, using the latest city and country-level data available for key categories including choice of tours for over 60s, access to transport services, healthcare and ease of walking.
Of the 76 cities analysed, Edinburgh in Scotland ranked first overall (7.36), followed by Vienna, Austria (7.33), Brisbane, Australia (6.88), Vancouver, Canada (6.78) and San Francisco, United States (6.72).
Europe dominated the top 10, with 70 per cent of cities featured coming from the continent.
Edinburgh scored highly in categories such as ‘limited mobility access’ (10), ‘senior population’ (9.17), ‘spaciousness’ (9.76) and ‘healthcare’ (8.19) – and was also named one of the best community cities in another recent study that analyses sectors including charity, care and the provision of wellbeing services. Globally, Edinburgh is also one of the most accessible cities, recently named the third-best city in the world for wheelchair access.
Vienna just missed out on top spot due to low scores for ‘choice of senior tours’ (1.51) and ‘access to transport services’ (4.07) but ranked well for ‘healthcare’ (8.5) and ‘peacefulness’ (9.91). The Austrian capital is the number one city for quality of life and one of the most peaceful and safest cities in the world.
On the other end of the scale come the worst cities for seniors, with two Indian cities – Mumbai and Kolkata – taking out the bottom two positions, ranking 76th and 75th respectively.
The world’s fourth most populated city, Mumbai, ranked as the worst city overall (3.72), scoring poorly in ‘access to transport services’ (1.06), ‘choice of senior tours’ (1.45) and ‘quality of things to do’ (1.59). Mumbai has the second-lowest score for ‘spaciousness’, only above only Manila, which scored 0. Residents experience other inconveniences such as cramped and unhygienic housing and diminishing open space, making Mumbai a must-not destination.
Kolkata and Cairo both ranked 3.79 overall, with severely low scores in many categories – especially healthcare services, scoring 3.4 and 0.01 respectively.
Manila (3.91) and Johannesburg (3.93) round out the bottom five.
“This is really a unique presentation of data that can help seniors feel more confident when choosing a destination. We certainly understand that some travellers have specific concerns regarding mobility, healthcare access, and other factors,” said InsureMyTrip manager of marketing and eCommerce Ronni Kenoian.
“We hope seniors and travel planners consider this information in order to make more informed decisions regarding upcoming trips.”
Have you been to any of these cities? How would you rate your experience?
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