Europe leads the way in global travel connectivity, with London, Paris and Frankfurt named the world’s top three most connected cities, according to a new global ranking.
Produced by travel search engine, Rome2rio, the inaugural Global Connectivity Ranking measures how connected a city is by the number of direct flights to international destinations, with European cities claiming eight of the top 10 spots.
London, which was ranked first, is connected to 351 international destinations through direct flights. Paris follows with direct flights to 291 destinations abroad, closely followed by Frankfurt with 278 international connections.
“The fall in global connectivity can largely be explained by regional conflicts”
Amsterdam ranked fourth, while Munich, Brussels, Rome and Dusseldorf also made it into the top 10.
Toronto leads the way in North America, ranking 17th overall, while Istanbul was identified as the most globally connected city in Asia.
Casablanca in Morocco topped the rankings in Africa at 64, and Sao Paulo was the highest ranked in the South American continent, but came in at 128 overall.
Sydney, the most globally connected in Australasia, ranked lower at 139.
Bernard Salt, demographer at KPMG, which collaborated with Rome2rio to produce the data, said that direct international flights are a “reflection of the importance of the relationship between two locations”.
“This measurement provides insights beyond mere passenger counts per airport,” he said. “It is a proxy for real business activity and changes in consumer confidence using data about global transport routes.”
The rankings highlighted that despite connection increases in 724 cities, 201 experienced falling connectivity globally.
“The fall in global connectivity can largely be explained by regional conflicts which diminish the demand for travel to these cities,” said Salt.
Kiev, for example, lost 23 international connections in two years.
The research looked at all 1,212 cities in the world which operate international airports.
