Which Australian city is the most expensive?

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By Danielle Bowling

TripAdvisor's TripIndex 2012 ranks the country's largest destinations according to what it would cost a couple to have a night out in the city. Here's what it found.
TripIndex 2012 considered how much it would cost two people to spend a night at a four-star hotel, get a round-trip taxi ride, enjoy cocktails at a five-star hotel bar and enjoy dinner with wine and found that Perth is the most expensive, at $430.83, for all of the above.
Wollongong is the most affordable coming in at $339.84 and Sydney came in at fourth most expensive, behind Brisbane and Canberra.
Hotels were the most expensive in Perth, while cocktails delivered the least change in Sydney and dinner for two costing the most in Melbourne. A return taxi-ride (about two miles each way) will costs the most in Brisbane, at $25.26.

On a global scale, Sydney ranks number nine in the list of the most expensive cities in the world, at $400.76 with London taking the top spot at $531.09.
Behind London was Oslo, Zurich, Paris, Stockholm, New York City, Moscow, Copenhagen, Sydney and Singapore came in at 10th place.

In last year's TripIndex, Sydney was ranked 24th, while Paris was named the most expensive city, followed by Zurich and London. 2011's findings, however, were based on the costs of different goods/services to this year's, including the average cost of a four-star hotel, the cost of a taxi for an eight kilometre journey, the average cost of large cheese pizza from three local restaurants and the price of a dry martini from a five-star hotel.
TripAdvisors Mid Year Industry Index also found that:

• Australia ranks number nine for properties that are most likely to have eco-friendly practices in place (80 percent)
• Half (55 percent) of Australian properties use social media to engage with guests and offer free in-room WiFi Internet access
• Thirty-four percent of Australian hotels with 50+ rooms expect the economy to improve in the next six months
• Thirty-two ercent of Australian properties expect to decrease room rates in the next two months
• Australia ranks number 18 in the world for most positive business outlook

Slider image: aecgroupltd.com

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What an interesting fact! We always assume that a metropolitan city like Sydney would cost much more for two people to spend a night at a four-star hotel, get a round-trip taxi ride, enjoy cocktails at a five-star hotel bar and enjoy dinner with wine. However, it turns out that Perth is actually the most expensive city for this ranking. Therefore, Sydney is still an affordable and dynamic destination for those who like the bustling atmosphere. More than that, on the world-wide scale, Sydney is still a great deal for travelers with ranking number nine of the most expensive cities in the world list. With a cosmopolitan and commercial-center city like Sydney, the price for staying and enjoying the city is still very reasonable. This is such good news for the tourism and hospitality industry in term of promoting and attracting more tourists.