Victorian Tourism Minister Tim Holding slams Sydney’s top spot
An Article in the Herald Sun says that Sydney’s great for traffic jams, but it’s not a patch on Melbourne. That’s the view of prominent Victorians after an international survey ranked Sydney the greatest city in the world, with Melbourne coming sixth in the survey.
Victorian Tourism Minister Tim Holding yesterday dismissed the Anholt City Brands Index, released yesterday.
“Sydney is great if you like gridlock, an airport with a curfew and leagues clubs for a beer,” he said. “The vast majority of these types of surveys continue to rank Melbourne far above Sydney and it’s not hard to see why.”
Former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett said Melbourne was blessed with cultural diversity, great architecture, and the people were cheerful.
“If you want to get around Melbourne as opposed to get around Sydney, if you want the opportunity of trying a variety of restaurants at a great price, you do it in Melbourne, you don’t do it in Sydney,” he said.
But NSW Premier Morris Iemma said Melbourne wasn’t in the race.
“Melbourne is a nice place but Sydney is the best, simply the best,” he said.
“If you are not living in Sydney you are simply ‘camping out’, as former PM Paul Keating said.”
Sydney was No. 1 for the second year in a row in this survey, ahead of London, Paris, New York and Rome.
Melbourne was sixth, beating Barcelona, Vancouver, Amsterdam and Montreal.
The survey included more than 10,300 perceptions of a city’s international status, beauty, urban appeal, friendliness, infrastructure and economic power.
A snapshot of both cities reveals Sydney has a higher average weekly household income than Melbourne, $1154 versus $1079.
But housing is more expensive on average in Sydney, $553,000, compared with $463,000 in Melbourne.
The average weekly rent in Melbourne is $200, 20 per cent cheaper than in the Harbour City.
The average monthly housing loan repayment in Sydney is $1800, compared with $1300 in Melbourne.
Sydney has more annual rainfall (1217mm versus 651mm), and a higher average temperature (21.6C versus 19.8C).
Sydney’s airport carried about 32 million passengers last year, almost 10 million more than Melbourne.
But Melbourne airport kept its customers waiting less, with December figures showing 74.3 per cent of departures were on time, compared with 71.5 per cent at Kingsford Smith.
A Report by The Mole from The Herald Sun
John Alwyn-Jones
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