A new survey conducted by Ipsos global poll suggests that Toronto and Vancouver are widely regarded as being among the world’s best cities to live in, but their reputations as tourist destinations and business hubs still need some works done

The survey included 18,500 respondents in 26 countries. They were asked to select three cities out of a pool of over 60 options, that they believed were the best to live in, visit and do business in.

Unfortunately, the combined results place them in positions 11^th and 12^th respectively.

New York City has retained its top spot since 2013, while Abu Dhabi jumped ahead of London and Paris to claim to be the second best city in the world.

Respondents had a different opinion when it came to livability, as such they choose Vancouver as the third best city in the world along with Abu Dhabi with votes from 13 percent respondents and finishing behind Zurich and Sydney.

Toronto places fifth, in a tie with London, Amsterdam, Stockholm, and Oslo.

Considering only Canadian votes then Vancouver beats Toronto to the top spot with 43 percent votes.

“I think Vancouver could probably be proud of that because there are probably some Torontonians who listed Vancouver in their mentions,” says Sean Simpson, VP Public Affairs for Ipsos.

Notably, when all North American votes are counted, Vancouver and Toronto still rank first and second, with 31 percent and 26 percent respondents approval respectively. Meaning American and Canadian people rated both cities far ahead of New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington DC, and Boston.

This likely has something to do with many Americans becoming increasingly envious of their northern neighbors, says Simpson, who attributes some to the Canadian-centric voting to “ those(Americans) who in their dreams would like to take a permanent vacation from, President Trump.”

“We’ve been hearing ever since Trump became a serious candidate that people were eyeballing moving to Canada,” he said.

On the other side, recent Pam Am Games and other events in Toronto didn’t help it make significant gains in terms of a global tourist destination, as it retained its position of 11^thbest city in the world to visit, tied with the new entry Vancouver.

Paris remains the world’s favorite tourist city in the world followed by Rome, New York, and London. Terrorism related incidents in Paris and London in particular over the past year haven’t overly damaged their appeal as tourist destinations.

“That’s a good observation. It appears that the general liability or appeal of these cities is holding steady despite some of these other contextual things that may be happening in the world,” said Simpson.

As for Canadian cities, Simpson says the poll results suggest that more aggressive promotions are needed to attract international tourists.