Milano it is the sixth most searched city on Google. More than Barcelona, Munich and San Francisco and even capitals like Amsterdam and Tokyo. Better than Munich and Berlin as a "place of business", twenty-first position in the standings, and still thirty-first ahead of the two German cities and Barcelona as a "node of global networks". But to translate those searches on the web search engine into real travel and investments, something will need to be improved, especially on the quality of life. It is the photograph of the Lombard capital taken from the second report by Assolombarda “Your Next Milano”, presented together with the Milano & Partners association. An analysis that measures the city's ability to compare itself with the rest of the world in 33 main global rankings, among which Milan appears in prominent positions 27 times.
The large international urban centers chosen for the comparative analysis are 10: Milan, Barcelona, Munich, Chicago, Berlin, London, Paris, Tokyo, San Francisco, Amsterdam. While the variables considered for the evaluation are three: perception, attractiveness, economy.
Because Milan is the sixth most searched city on Google: room for growth on innovation and talent
In terms of perception, Milan is, on a global level, a "resonant" city on a par with the main capitals. Only three cities, namely London, Paris and New York, are in all rankings and therefore have a resonance of 100%. Arranging the global cities, Milan is the 21st (out of the 719 measured, on a par with Monaco), as well as the 12th among the 561 non-capitals. Although appearing in many rankings, however, the average placement is relatively low: 98th place. A clear point of weakness is “congestion and quality of life” (331st) but ample room for improvement was also noted in terms of “innovation ecosystem” (48th), “talent hubs” (52nd).
Milan, however, takes its revenge as a "tourist destination and for sporting events" (14th, ahead of Amsterdam and San Francisco). The level of attractiveness is also positive, just look at the numbers of companies: in 2021 the city obtained 69 foreign investments for new businesses, an increase compared to 52 in 2020 and the annual average of 53 projects in the three-year period 2017-2019. In this field he beat San Francisco (45) and Chicago (41). However, the lag in the amount of investments attracted by better performing benchmarks remains substantial.
Milan: destination for foreign students and tourists
The dossier also certifies that the presence of students from abroad: more than 15 young university students attend the 8 universities of the metropolitan city. They represent 6,7% of total students in the 2020-2021 academic year. A share higher than 6,1% in 2019 and comparable to the Barcelona figure, but much lower than the approximately 30% of London and New York and the gap between 15% and 20% recorded in Berlin, Munich, Paris , San Francisco and Amsterdam.
Finally, a further encouraging trend, but still far from pre-Covid levels, concerns the tourist attraction: in 2021 (but also in the first months of 2022) Milan has shown that it has recovered faster than many other international cities after the "setback" that occurred in 2020. In 2021, in fact, the city welcomed 3,1 million visitors: a higher number than the 1,9 million in 2020 but still considerably far from the record recorded in 2019 (8 million tourists). However, the acceleration in the first months of 2022 allowed the approach to pre-pandemic levels (-9% arrivals in the metropolitan city in May 2022 compared to May 2019, -3% in the municipality alone).
2022 is the year of recovery for GDP and employment
As for the economy, while in 2020 all global centers have accused a recession phase (-6,7% added value in Milan), in 2021 there was a significant leap forward (+6,4% in Milan). But in the benchmark, only New York and Chicago manage to match 2019 GDP levels in just one year.
Impacts of different timing and intensity also emerge on the unemployment. In 2020 the unemployment rate more than doubles in American cities, while the increase is decidedly more limited in Barcelona, London, Tokyo or even the percentage is unchanged in Paris, Munich, Berlin and also in Milan (where it is confirmed at 5,9, 2021%). In 6,5, the gradual return of national measures to support employment leads to a growth in the unemployment rate in Milan to XNUMX%. Only London records a similar growth profile, while all the other cities are down or stationary, albeit with differences in the pre-Covid recovery: Paris and above all Berlin and Munich record a more contained rate, while the large American cities and Barcelona do not close the gap opened by the pandemic.
Looking ahead, even in a context of high volatility and uncertainty, Milan's GDP at the end of 2022 is expected to exceed 2019 by +2,2% and in 2023 it will settle at +4,8% (data referring to added value, source Prometeia). In parallel, employment it is expected to realign itself to pre-Covid levels in 2022 (+2,3% in 2023): if the fall in 2020 was more contained than the overall economic activity, it is therefore true that the pace of recovery of the labor market is expected to be slower .
Spada (Assolombarda): "Take the road to overcome the crisis"
“The data confirm that the city has taken the road to overcome the crisis, but more needs to be done to recover – explains the president of Assolombarda, Alessandro Spada –. The priority now is to ground the resources of the Pnrr. The Metropolitan City, unfortunately, remains an unfinished project. This is the time to speed up, to cut red tape, also in view of the 2026 Winter Olympics".
“We all need to row in the same direction: institutions, universities, businesses and civil society in full Ambrosian style – continued the president of Assolombarda -. More than ever, it is necessary to consider this crisis as a catalyst for ambition and an accelerator of change. Only in this way will we be able, in the coming years, to document a considerable leap forward in the rankings and to project Milan more and more onto the international competitive scene”, concluded Spada.
