SURVEY:INADEQUATE PUBLIC transport has pushed Dublin down the rankings in a table of Europe's top shopping cities according to a survey published this week.
The Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) Globe Shopper City survey found that while Dublin performed strongly when the number of shops was considered and did well on the length of its sales seasons, the city scored poorly in terms of public transport and this pushed it into 14th place out of 33 European cities.
The survey ranked cities according to 38 criteria grouped into five categories: shops, affordability, convenience, hotels and transport, and culture and climate.
Dublin tied with Kiev and Sofia for the longest sales season of the cities in the Europe-wide shopping survey while London, Madrid, Barcelona, Paris and Rome occupied the top five places.
Alasdair Ross of EIU said the index shed light on which European cities were “best placed to take advantage of the Continent’s reputation among international consumers”. He said the findings “show that the right balance between convenience, availability and price is essential for international travel shopping”.
Among Dublin’s advantages for attracting overseas shoppers were “affordable hotels, diverse cuisine and a choice of boutiques”, according to the survey.
The EIU warned that the city’s public transport “ranks low in terms of affordability and ties with Sofia for last place in terms of quality”.
The index also compared prices of a number of products and found that, while prices have fallen in the Republic over the last 18 months, the country is still significantly dearer than the average in most categories.
A quality three-course meal, for example, costs an average of €60.18 in Dublin compared with a Europe-wide average of €48.44. But a four-star hotel room in the city has an average price of €113.54, which is cheaper than the EU average of €121.65.
Meanwhile, a digital camera with a price tag of €814.99 in the Republic costs an average of €793.59 across Europe.
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