How easy it is to forget that we live in the greatest country on earth

Yes, I'm talking about South Africa

Two weeks ago, the economics blogger Noah Smith asked a simple question on Twitter: which city is the greatest on earth? The response was emphatic: New York. Smith answered in a blog post:

If you answered ‘New York City’, I wouldn’t laugh at you. As the financial hub of what’s still nominally the world’s biggest economy, it commands economic power that any other single city would have trouble rivaling, and it’s still the city of dreams for untold millions around the globe. If you answered “Shanghai”, I might purse my lips in skepticism, but if you believe that China is destined to supplant the developed democracies as the center of wealth and power, then Shanghai would admittedly be the logical choice.

But actually, the greatest city in the world is Tokyo.

Smith, who speaks Japanese and has spent a significant time of his life in Japan, then explains, at length, why he chooses Tokyo. He concludes:

Many great cities become museums of themselves, their lack of new development an homage to their glory days. Tokyo refuses to do this. In a country that is aging and economically stagnant, Tokyo pushes ever forward into the realm of its own possibilities

For Smith, then, what defines a city is its ability to keep reinventing itself.

But surely other things matter too. In June, the Economist Intelligence Unit produced ‘The Global Liveability Index 2023’ report, ranking cities according to their stability, healthcare, culture & environment, education, and infrastructure. The best city in the world to live in? Vienna (Austria). Notable mentions are Copenhagen (Denmark) and Melbourne (Australia). Osaka (not Tokyo) made the top ten.

Naturally, the criteria one person uses to define a ‘great’ city might significantly differ from another. As economists would say, the city you choose depends on what you optimise for. And even if we can agree on a ranking of admirable qualities, we might experience them very differently depending on where we live, what work we do, and who we interact with.

Of course, few of us will ever live in more than a handful of cities. So, a somewhat more appropriate question might be: what is the best city to … visit? Even this question depends on our preferences: is it food, business, natural beauty, architecture, diversity of experience, nightlife, history or, simply, the affordability of luxuries that you value? The reasons we visit Lisbon, London and Las Vegas, I surmise, are very different.

But unlike Noah Smith’s Twitter poll – a site not known for its representative sampling methods – we have a more authoritative answer to the-greatest-city-on-earth-to-visit question.

British newspaper The Telegraph has an annual poll amongst its readers, asking it to rank the greatest city on earth to visit. Now, Telegraph readers are not a globally representative sample. With a conservative bias, they are not even a nationally representative sample. But the 30 000 people who voted do have enormous spending power, and perhaps reflect a more balanced view of international tourists than, say, a Twitter poll.

Their choice in 2023? Cape Town.

Now, the news that Cape Town is the best city to visit in 2023 should not surprise those who have followed The Telegraph Travel Awards the last decade. At least since 2013, Cape Town has been voted the best city to visit, every year. (There was no poll between 2020 and 2022 because of Covid, but the newspaper did publish a wonderful piece about the Mother City in 2022.) Cape Town’s persistent performance is a remarkable achievement, a testament to the work of the local tourism industry despite major challenges, including a drought, lockdowns and loadshedding.

What is interesting about this year, though, is that it is not only Cape Town that has performed admirably. The Telegraph asks another question: which country is the best to visit?

And for the first time, South Africa tops the list, displacing New Zealand, a perennial winner. (This feels especially good after losing to the All Blacks a few weeks ago.) Says The Telegraph about us:

Your reward for 12 hours in the air is a place of true beauty – Cape Town a supermodel at the foot of Table Mountain, the Garden Route a ribbon of road-trip nirvana, the wineries of Franschhoek and Stellenbosch crafting fine vintages, the landscape thrilling to the peaks and troughs of the Drakensberg range and Motlatse Canyon, Kruger National Park a roaring wildlife zone. This coronation has been coming.  South Africa was third in this poll in 2017, second in 2018. A love match consummated.

That South Africa has beaten countries like New Zealand (second), the Maldives (third), Japan (fourth), and Australia (fifth) despite our much-publicised challenges does warrant some introspection. Do we South Africans take our incredible offering – clearly recognised by international visitors – for granted?

Psychologists might recognise why we don’t. In June, we took a family holiday to Greece, driving almost two thousand kilometres around the Peloponnese.  Greece is a major tourist destination with incredible historical sites. The food was a highlight; the people were friendly, generous and relaxed. And we were fortunate to have great weather. We returned to a country in the midst of a cold and wet Cape winter, without power. And the only thing I could think was: this is so much better than Greece.

Why? Psychologists call it ‘comparison bias’. We often need a point of comparison to evaluate the value or worth of something. It is difficult to judge what South Africa offers if you have nothing to compare it to. This is why I appreciate South Africa much more when I travel abroad.

An outsider’s perspective can provide that point of contrast, helping us recognise the value of what we have. Through someone else’s eyes, the mundane can become extraordinary. Their observations can stimulate introspection, a re-evaluation of assumptions, and a deeper appreciation for the inherent beauty and richness of home.

South Africa needs work (and lots of it), but that doesn’t mean we can’t value what we already have. While The Telegraph travel writers extol the majesty of South Africa’s natural beauty, I suspect that is only one of the reasons why their readers voted for us. We have award-winning music, gourmet food and wine (at affordable prices), quirky cultural practices, and a great sense of humour; great people doing great things. (And, oh yes, we have toilets that can flush paper. Sorry, Greece.)

An edited version of this article was first published on News24. The image was created with Midjourney v5.2.