New Orleans ranked best long-haul city

The Big Easy beat Singapore, Sydney and Chicago

(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

New Orleans has been ranked the best long-haul city in the world, according to a new survey.

Which? readers rated the Deep South metropolis as the best world city for the first time with a score of 90 per cent.

New Orleans beat popular cities such as Las Vegas, Dubai, Tokyo and Cape Town – which had topped the ranking for the past four out of five years – thanks to its laid-back nature, friendly locals, fusion cuisine and the ease of getting around.

The consumer group asked thousands of holidaymakers to rate 40 city breaks around the world based on categories including cultural attractions, accommodation, shopping, food, value for money and the level of overcrowding.

However, the city on the Mississippi River is struggling under the weight of its own popularity.

This year, residents announced they were fighting back after a surge in visitor numbers. The Louisiana city’s historic centre currently receives more than five times the number of tourists per resident than the centre of Venice.

The New Orleans Sustainable Tourism Task Force, an independent collective of concerned citizens launched in 2018, released a report highlighting the main areas of concern after a year of research and analysis.

Singapore came second in the Which? survey, scoring 87 per cent, with readers ranking its shopping, food and drink and ease of getting around highly.

In joint second place was Sydney. Chicago took third place, while Tokyo, Jaipur and Washington DC (85 per cent) in joint fifth place.

Other cities in the top 10 included Vancouver, Bangkok, Kyoto and Seattle.

At the bottom of the ranking was Las Vegas, which scored 57 per cent. Readers criticised the city’s lack of attractions and gave it low scores for food and drink and value for money. Los Angeles, Miami, Dubai and Delhi also scored poorly.

“What the destinations at the top of our survey all have in common is visitors thought they were fantastic value for money – which may not mean cheap, New Orleans certainly isn’t, but that the food, the accommodation and the attractions were well worth the money spent on them,” said Rory Boland, Which? Travel editor.

“And poor value for money is what Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Dubai all share. It doesn’t matter if you have Universal Studios, Celine Dion shows or the world’s tallest building when visitors feel like they are being ripped off.”

The top 10 long-haul cities

1. New Orleans, US (90%)
2. Singapore (87%)
2 = Sydney, Australia  (87%)
3. Chicago, US (86%)
4. Jaipur, India (85%)
4 = Tokyo, Japan (85%)
4 = Washington DC, US (85%)
5. Cape Town, South Africa (84%)
5 = Kyoto, Japan (84%)
6. Seattle, US (83%)
6 = Vancouver, Canada (83%)
7. Melbourne, Australia (82%)
8. Perth, Australia (81%)
9. San Francisco, US (80%)
10. Bangkok, Thailand (79%)