Moscow the world’s third-best ‘self-care capital’, whatever that is ... Yes, really
- Travel marketers have had a tough job during the Covid-19 pandemic, but they’re getting creative
- A recent top 25 list, ‘Self-care capitals of the world for 2021’, has some interesting parameters
With international flights mostly grounded, 2020 saw travel marketers looking for increasingly creative ways to remind people why getting on a plane and going somewhere used to be so much fun.
Zoom travel conferences and virtual travel experiences have had limited appeal. As a cynical travel writer I have created a Covid-19 bingo card, in which words and phrases such as “unprecedented”, “new normal” and “pivot” score points whenever they are mentioned in an online conference. It’s a cheap shot, but has made some of the less glamorous presentations pass more swiftly.
In a brutal year for the industry, travel publicity has been a difficult and unenviable task, carried out with tenacity – but some campaigns are more creative than others. Take, for example, the recent unveiling of the “Self-care capitals of the world for 2021”, by Money.co.uk.
Suggesting that 2021 “will be the year of self-care, with more of us making time for ourselves and our personal well-being”, the consumer advice website’s wellness scores for each of the world’s 25 most populous capital cities (with the likes of Kinshasa, Dhaka and Tehran ditched in favour of Madrid, Rome and Dublin, and Hong Kong and Taipei fearlessly counted as national capitals) are defined by some intriguing parameters.
The numbers of parks, museums and restaurants, as well as the giving of a "quality of life" score, all seem on the money. The tallying of shopping centres and pottery and painting classes? Not so much.
I tried pottery once – and once only. It was one of the most stressful days of my life. And I can think of plenty more effective ways to indulge in “self-care” than hitting Japanese mega store Don Don Donki two days before Christmas.
Beijing will no longer recognise British National (Overseas) passports
The research also takes into account the number of spas, yoga and meditation studios, and wellness resorts that can be found in a city. For millions who are healthier and more lithe than I, yoga and Pilates may be critical barometers of contentment, but for me, pleasure is more food-based.
Imagine my surprise, then, to find that when it comes to restaurants, Bangkok is roundly beaten by that well-known culinary powerhouse and global foodie destination … Prague.
Some other counts seem debatable. Seoul apparently has almost as many restaurants as London and Paris combined. That’s an awful lot of bibimbap.
There are other anomalies: Hong Kong’s urban parks may be entirely covered in concrete and forbid pretty much anything apart from walking or breathing, but our country parks knock boring old Green Park or the Jardin du Luxembourg well into touch. Yet somehow we are pipped in the “parks and gym” category by famously mountainous Singapore, which also beats us (by a whopping 17 points to 13.5) in the “shopping and beauty” category.
When it comes to wellness resorts and retreats, one city comes out on top by a country mile: Beijing, “with over 9,631 resorts to choose from”. That’s 2,000 more than second place Rome, but we’re willing to bet Beijing’s city limits were fairly elastic when it came to the counting.
As for cost – and who doesn’t like to compare how much others are having to stump up to look after themselves – London is the most expensive among Money.co.uk’s overall top 10, with the “average yearly self-care cost per person” calculated at a very precise £4,725.84 (US$6,468.45). Following Paris and Madrid comes Hong Kong (US$4,408.15) in fourth, and Singapore (US$4,261.27) in fifth.
As for the big winners, in first place overall, the global capital of self-care is … drumroll, please … Paris. The City of Light must be delighted polite waiters wasn’t a criterion.
Despite the previously mentioned expense, London comes second, and, let’s be honest, with Brexit and the Covid-19 flip-flopping by Boris Johnson’s government, the denizens of the Big Smoke need all the pampering they can lay their hands on.
Now Covid-19 vaccines are a reality, when I can travel again?
Personally, I’d have chosen Rome, Madrid or Vienna over Moscow for “self-care” any day of the week, yet the Russian capital has bested all three in overall third place.
That can only mean one thing: an unprecedented pivot to a new normal.
