World's most expensive cities in 2022 unveiled

The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has rated Singapore and New York as the most expensive cities to live in among the 172 featured in the Worldwide Cost of Living (WCOL) survey published earlier this month.

Singapore has topped this survey eight times in the last 10 years. Will the latest results (which see Singapore and New York push last year’s most expensive city, Tel Aviv, in Israel into third place), have much of an impact on the costs of meetings and events in these destinations and the APAC region generally?

Petrina Goh, regional commercial director, SEA & Hong Kong, CWT Meetings & Events says the latest rankings do not come as a surprise, as Singapore and Hong Kong have consistently ranked among the world’s most expensive cities.

“Despite their higher-than-average costs, both cities have been very attractive options for meetings and events as they have extremely well-connected airports, plenty of accommodation and venue options to suit different budgets and preferences, world-class transport and medical infrastructure, and they offer a high level of safety.”

While Goh acknowledges that some planners are considering destinations like Thailand and Vietnam to stretch their budgets further, she says the agency is still seeing a solid pipeline of events being planned in Singapore next year.

“As for Hong Kong, many corporate businesses are still in wait-and-see mode and we’ll likely see more enquiries coming through once restrictions on travel and meetings and events are relaxed further,” she says.

The EIU said the war in Ukraine and continuing supply-chain problems have contributed to price rises, affecting production and trade across the world. On average, prices across the 172 cities covered by the EIU’s WCOL index rose by 8.1% in local-currency terms, the highest rate in the 20 years for which it has digital cost-of-living data.

This year’s survey was conducted between 16 August and 16 September 2022.