For the second year in a row, Victoria has topped Condé Nast Traveller’s lists of the best small cities in the world.
The travel and lifestyle magazine’s annual Readers’ Choice Awards were announced Oct. 1.
Paul Nursey, chief executive of Destination Greater Victoria, says the city is in good company, topping a list that includes the likes of Porto in Portugal and San Sebastian in Spain.
Other small cities on the top-10 list include San Migeul de Allende in Mexico, Florence in Italy, Salzburg, Austria, Lucerne, Switzerland and Dubrovnik, Croatia.
The top ranking means that Victoria, as a meetings and leisure destination, is “truly up there with some of the most interesting and unique places in the world,” said Nursey, whose destination marketing organization is tasked with selling Victoria to the world.
“And I think for us what it really means is our brand is now clearly distinct from Vancouver, Seattle and other places in the Pacific Northwest.”
More than 575,000 readers participated in this year’s Readers’ Choice Awards by submitting ratings about their travel experiences on a five-point scale.
Nursey said the results suggest Victoria is able to attract a more affluent traveller, which he said is reflected in the hotel rates the city has seen of late.
According to Chemistry Consulting’s most recent figures, the average daily room rate through the first seven months of this year was $255.21, up from $240.48 last year, while revenue per available room was $188.87, up from $167.77 at the same time last year.
The most recent numbers available also note the Victoria International Airport has seen a nine per cent increase in total passengers through its gates compared with last year, while vehicle counts on B.C. Ferries are up 2.64 per cent and the Victoria Conference Centre has seen a 26 per cent increase in the number of delegate days.
Nursey said Victoria has gone from middle of the pack in terms of average daily room rate to third behind Vancouver and Toronto.
Overall, he said, this year has been “really solid” for tourism, with a number of operators reporting they are ahead of pre-pandemic numbers.
Nursey said the Condé Nast recognition will help them build on this year’s success, and will be used in marketing pitches and public-relations efforts.
It will also be part of Destination Greater Victoria’s fall launch of a 10-year master plan that will focus on the need for re-investment in the region’s infrastructure, like needed repairs to the Inner Harbour causeway, ways to make hotel development easier and the need for new amenities like a museum and expanding the conference centre.
“We’re a globally recognized brand now, and that’s proven to be true, but we also see downside risk if we don’t get moving on some of these projects because our competition is all moving,” he said, pointing to Seattle’s work to improve its waterfront.
“We see that we’ve reached the pinnacle, but if we want to stay there, we need to continually up our game. Everyone else around the world is continuing to see the value of attracting visitors, foreign direct-investment conferences.”
He acknowledged making the case for investment in infrastructure will be difficult, considering the entire country is crying out for upgraded and improved infrastructure, from repairing crumbling seawalls, to building highways and bridges.
He said the plan is to appeal to the bottom line.
“We do the analysis of the taxation revenue that this helps to drive. This is new direct money from non-citizens that helps to fund our general revenues,” he said. “We have a success story we need to keep investing in.”
Condé Nast, which publishes numerous magazines, including Vogue, GQ and The New Yorker, said its Traveller magazine reaches more than 20 million print and web readers every month and more than 40 million people on its social-media channels.
