Sydney ranked as second most popular travel spot in world by Airbnb

Australia and New Zealand have both bounced back in a big way post-Covid, with tourists eager to visit.

According to data released by Airbnb, Sydney is the second best travel destination in the world for 2023, with Melbourne following closely behind in third place and Auckland in fourth. Perth also made its debut on the list, coming in ninth.

Malaga in southern Spain took the coveted top spot.

Airbnb based its findings on search volumes on its platform over the course of 2022.

It’s the second year in a row Sydney has taken out the number two spot with rival city Melbourne moving up the ladder from fifth to third spot.

As for New Zealand, Auckland isn’t the only city representing it globally with the picturesque South Island town of Queenstown also making the cut. It came sixth on the list.

Bangkok, Thailand came fifth with three Brazilian cities – Florianópolis, Porto Seguro, Salvador – coming in seventh, eighth and 10th respectively.

Last year, American Express Travel published its 2023 Trending Destinations list with Sydney making the top 10.

Data was compiled using the number of global American Express Card Member travel reservations made between 2019 to 2022.

The others included Florida Keys and Woodstock, Vermont in the US; Copenhagen, Lisbon, Paris, Montenegro and Istanbul in Europe; as well as Mexico City and Fiji’s stunning Yakuve Island.

Lonely Planet also released its “Best in Travel” list for 2023 and rather than a simple list, the 30 destinations were split into five categories – eat, learn, journey, unwind and connect.

Sydney was listed in the latter, along with Boise in Idaho, Ghana’s capital Accra, Alaska, Albania and Guyana in South America.

While Sydney has been getting a lot of praise and attention, Melbourne is equally known for its great food scene and night-life and one thing it can definitely boast about is being named the ‘friendliest city in the world’.

The vibrant city topped the “Friendliest Cities in the World” list compiled by UK insurance company William Russell.

“We took a total of 23 of the most visited cities around the world, and ranked them on the factors above to find the most friendly city. Some cities were removed from the list that didn’t have data based on every one of our factors,” the study read.

Coming in first with a ‘friendly city score’ of 6.06 was Melbourne.

“Often referred to as the ‘capital of cool’, the residents are known for their friendliness,” the report read.

“We looked at data from city residents’ quality of life in Melbourne, and the city scored an impressive 7.296 out of 10. Melbourne’s top attraction, according to Yelp, is the Queen Victoria Market, with 237 reviews.

“Melbourne is a forward-thinking, rapidly growing city, and it is recognised for being a fully open, inclusive and competitive city, as well as a welcoming place for the LGBTQ+ community, who are often among the most marginalised communities around the world.”

In second place was Paris with a rating of 5.99, followed by Vienna (5.91), Madrid (5.76) and in fifth place…