Photo by Rajan Vadakkemuriyil
Qatar’s capital city Doha has been named among the top cities to live in the World Best Cities 2023 rankings by Resonance Consultancy, a leading global advisor on placemaking, branding and marketing for the world’s best cities, districts, developments and destinations.
According to Resonance Consultancy, it ranks global cities (principal cities of metropolitan areas with populations of more than one million) using a combination of statistical performance and qualitative evaluations by locals and visitors in 24 areas grouped into six core categories. Principal cities are defined as the largest city in each metropolitan statistical area. The categories include Place, Product, Programming, Prosperity, People and Promotion.
The ranking puts Doha as the 27th Best City in the world to live, work, invest and visit.
“Qatar has its sights set on becoming the next tourism hot spot in the Middle East, with Doha as its crown jewel,” the report said.
“In less than a century, Qatar went from a poor UK protectorate with a dwindling fishing industry to an independent nation that today is the richest state per capita in the world—with booming infrastructure development to match. Doha is top globally for GDP per Capita, Employment Rate and our overall Prosperity category. With shrewd investment of oil wealth, the Qatar Investment Authority is estimated to be worth almost $450bn,” it added.
Doha placed second in the Middle East and Arab world, behind Dubai, ranked 5th in the world and ahead of Abu Dhabi, ranked 28th. Riyadh ranks 83rd, making four Arab cities in the top 100 World’s Best Cities.
Among the core indices, it tops in the prosperity category, which measures the economy, income, financial security of its citizens, and innovation.
Doha’s meteoric infrastructure development, including modern highways, a metro system, universities, the Museum of Islamic Art and the breathtaking new National Museum of Qatar, has made the city a desired destination for tourists. Also, the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 showcased architectural masterpieces in stadiums, the Lusail Iconic Stadium, which hosted the final, the innovative Stadium 974 and the Al Bayt stadium.
Resonance Consultancy also noted the astounding 100+ new hotels in and around the city, from the Fairmont and Raffles Doha housed right in the U-shaped Katara Tower to two Waldorf Astoria properties among other globally renowned hotel brands to have opened in Doha.
Meanwhile, in the overall rankings, the top 10 cities are London, Paris, New York, Tokyo, Dubai, Barcelona, Rome, Madrid, Singapore and Amsterdam. The report named Ukraine’s capital Kyiv as the 2023 honorary World’s Best City, citing it as “an urban beacon of courage and resilience leading a defiant nation.”
