Osaka Overtakes Kyoto to Claim #1 Spot as World's Most Attractive Tourism City

Yanolja Research Announces'Global Tourism City Attractiveness Index'

SEOUL, South Korea,July 2, 2025/PRNewswire/ -- Yanolja Research, a global research institute specializing in the travel and tourism industry, today announced the inaugural"Yanolja Attractiveness Index"at the<2025 Global Tourism City Attractiveness Evaluation> seminar. This new index objectively assesses the appeal of major tourism cities worldwide from the perspective of the tourists themselves.

Developed jointly by Yanolja Research,Purdue University'sCHRIBA Institute in the U.S., and Kyung Hee University's H&T Analytics Center inSeoul, Korea, the index evaluated the attractiveness of 191 tourism cities using global social media data in 14 languages, provided by Brandwatch in the UK. In the 2025 evaluation,Osaka, Japan, rose two ranks from its 3rd place in 2024 to secure the top spot overall, whileKyoto, which held the #1 position in 2024, shifted to 3rd place. BeyondOsakaandKyoto, Japandemonstrated its status as a world-class tourism powerhouse with a total of six tourism cities ranking within the top 20, includingOkinawa(10th),Fukuoka(11th),Tokyo(12th), andSapporo(18th).

New Metric Evaluates Tourism Cities Through'Psychology'and'Emotion'

Unlike traditional"tourism competitiveness"evaluations that focus on supply-side factors like transportation, accommodation, infrastructure, and policy, the"Yanolja Attractiveness Index"prioritizes measuring a tourism city's"appeal"from the perspective of actual travel consumers. To achieve this, it uses two core pillars:"Tourism City Attractiveness,"which indicates how positively a specifictourism cityis viewed, and"Tourism City Reputation,"which reflects how widely known and discussed it is.

Based on these two pillars, Yanolja Research conducted a comprehensive evaluation by segmenting atourism city'sattractiveness into four key dimensions:▲Beauty and Natural Scenery of the City▲Culture and History of the City▲Experiential Content of the City▲Hospitality of the City.

2025 Global Tourism City Attractiveness:Japan'sDominance andAsia'sStrong Performance

In the 2025 overall rankings, the dominant performance of Japanese tourism cities was evident.Osakasurged from 3rd place in 2024 to 1st, andKyotomaintained its top-tier position at 3rd. Furthermore,Okinawa(11th→10th) andSapporo(22nd→18th) saw their rankings climb, whileTokyo(12th) andFukuoka(11th) consistently held top positions, proving the broad appeal of Japanese tourism. In the Asian continental rankings,OsakaandKyotosecured 1st and 2nd place respectively, solidifying their status as the region's premier tourism cities.

Globally, Asian tourism cities showed significant progress. Southeast Asian tourism cities likeBangkok(16th→7th), andChiang Mai(61st→20th) saw their rankings soar, emerging as new popular tourism cities. Conversely, while European tourism cities such asParis(2nd),London(6th), andRome(8th) still exhibited strong brand power, some traditionally popular tourism cities likeMadrid(17th→29th) andBarcelona(19th→25th) experienced drops in their rankings, indicating they are facing shifting tourism trends. In the Americas, U.S. tourism cities, led byNew York(4th), continued to demonstrate strength.

Commenting on the research findings, Dr. SooCheong Jang, Professor atPurdue Universityand Head of Yanolja Research, stated,"The'Yanolja Attractiveness Index'is the first attempt to analyze a tourism city's'appeal'factors through the actual voices of tourists, going beyond infrastructure-centric evaluations. The strong performance of Japanese tourism cities, includingOsaka, and the significant progress of other Asian tourism cities demonstrate how dynamically tourist preferences are changing. Moving forward, for tourism cities to lead the global market, discovering and communicating their unique charm will be a core strategy."

Yanolja Research plans to regularly announce the"Yanolja Attractiveness Index"annually to track global tourism trends and changes intourism citycompetitiveness. Detailed results and analysis of the Global Tourism City Attractiveness Index, released onJuly 2, can be found on the official Yanolja Research website (https://www.yanolja-research.com).

[Appendix] Top 20 Cities in the 2025 Global Tourism City Attractiveness Index

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/osaka-overtakes-kyoto-to-claim-1-spot-as-worlds-most-attractive-tourism-city-302496620.html

SOURCE Yanolja Research