S'pore ranks 2nd among Asia's friendliest city, Taipei takes crown

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S’pore secures 2nd spot in Asia’s friendliest city

In a recent survey, Singapore was crowned the 2nd friendliest city in Asia, narrowly losing out to Taipei.

The study, conducted by Preply — an online language learning marketplace — ranked countries based on six metrics:

Visitor Return Rate
Visitor Acceptance
Acceptance of diversity
Safety index
English proficiency
Friendliness to foreigner

Of all the Asian cities, Singapore has the highest English language proficiency, with a score of 631. This reportedly makes it easy and convenient for tourists to communicate in Singapore.

Singapore also scores highly under “Visitor Acceptance” and “Visitor Return Rate”, with scores of 164 out of 200 and 14% respectively.

Source: Tri Nguyen on Unsplash.

Meanwhile, the island state scored 52 out of 100 for “Acceptance of Diversity”, 74.68 out of 100 for “Safety Index Score”, and three out of five under “Friendliness to foreigners”.

Taipei claims top spot

Beating Singapore to the top spot was Taipei, the capital of Taiwan.

Taipei’s scores under “Friendliness to Foreigners” and “Safety Index Score” were seemingly crucial for its top spot. The city scored 84.55 out of 100 for safety and five out of five for its friendliness towards foreigners.

Source: Preply

The city also boasts the highest diversity acceptance rate on the list, with a score of 66 out of 100.

Recognised as one of the safest cities in Asia, Taipei scored 84.55 out of 100 for safety, coming in second only to Kyoto, which scored 85.6

Like Singapore, Taipei is a bustling metropolis brimming with cultural and historical places for tourists to explore.

While English proficiency in the city is low compared to Singapore, many Taiwanese people can speak basic English and will try their best to help those with limited Mandarin proficiency.

Mandalay is least friendliest city in Asia

On the other end of the spectrum, Mandalay — the capital of Myanmar — was ranked the least friendliest Asian city despite attracting nearly 2.4 million tourists each year.

Based on a report from Preply, the city’s friendliness toward foreigners was rated the lowest, with only two out of five.

Furthermore, Mandalay scores just 22 out of 100 for diversity acceptance, which is relatively low compared to the higher-scoring cities in the ranking.

Its visitor acceptance rate is 11 out of 200 — the lowest of any Asian city. Mandalay’s visitor return rate comes in at just 5% — also the lowest on the list.

Also read: S’pore ranks 5th in list of Most Peaceful Country in the World in 2024