Ranking first amongst the largest cities, Sydney is ranked seventh overall in this year’s index, which includes 65 cities across Asia, the United Arab Emirates, Europe and North America.
The city’s scores across the environmental and supplier categories that make up half of the overall assessment rose considerably, with Sydney the fourth most improved city globally in the supplier category, rising by more than 20 points.
Sydney has moved up 18 places from 2025, when it was ranked 25th, behind both Melbourne and Brisbane.
Melbourne has fallen down the rankings somewhat, from 11 last year to 25 this year, still comfortably inside the publicised top 40 destinations.
Globally, Danish cities dominated the top five, but Finland’s capital Helsinki took the top spot, followed by Gothenburg in Sweden, then Copenhagen, Aarhus and Aalborg, all in Denmark. Glasgow in Scotland was sixth and Sydney seventh while Belfast in Ireland, Montreal, Canada and Reykjavik in Iceland rounded out the top 10.
“This year we are celebrating both excellence and momentum,” said GDS-Movement CEO, Guy Bigwood.
“The top-performing destinations continue to raise the bar, while destinations across the wider community are accelerating their progress.
“The narrowing gap shows how ideas, practices and ambition are spreading.
“Eleven years of measurement demonstrate the power of benchmarking, peer learning and performance management to turn evidence into action and help destinations scale change.”
The GDS-Index was started through a partnership between the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), City Destinations Alliance (CityDNA), IMEX Group and MCI.
This is the 11th year the index has been produced.
