Expedia, a US-based on-line travel company, has compiled a list of the world’s top 25 travel destinations for shopping.
With this festive period being the busiest time of the year for the world’s retailers, the company has based its league table on data that includes blogger recommendations, visitor numbers, value for money and friendliness.
London achieved fourth place for the UK, trailing behind New York in first place, Berlin that took second and Los Angeles in third. None of these will come as a great surprise, but other shopping destinations on the list were less predictable.
Examples of these include Sao Paulo in Brazil, Seoul in South Korea, Melbourne in Australia and Romania’s capital Bucharest that just made the list at number 25. Scotland also had a showing, with Edinburgh taking twentieth spot. Dubai with its glitzy, top end shops for the well-off came fourteenth, while Marrakech’s more affordable markets and souks earned it nineteenth place. Africa’s other representative on the list was Cape Town, achieving twenty-third place. The USA had one other representative in addition to its two in the top four, with San Francisco in thirteenth place.
The complete list reads, 1, New York, 2, Berlin, 3, Los Angeles, 4, London, 5, Kuala Lumpur, 6, Tokyo, 7, Singapore, 8, Istanbul, 9, Paris, 10, Madrid, 11, Sao Paulo, 12, Bangkok, 13, San Francisco, 14, Dubai, 15, Milan, 16, Rome, 17, Hong Kong, 18, Seoul, 19, Marrakech, 20, Edinburgh, 21, Melbourne, 22, Vienna, 23, Cape Town, 24, Amsterdam and 25, Bucharest.