There’s more to good hospitality than offering guests a gin and tonic upon arrival (even if that is the way to some of our hearts). In this edition we gauge which businesses and nations provide the warmest welcomes.

A warm welcome can go a long way in showing the world what you’re made of, whether in business or national image-making. With the help of Monocle readers, we’ve compiled our new Hospitality Survey – and we cordially invite you to pore over the results.

The friendly faced White Hat Volunteers at Canada’s Calgary International Airport help holiday makers, businessfolk and refugees alike travel from A to B.

The Household's Division's musical ensembles are headed by one very hospitable man.

Residents of Lebanon’s mountainous Chouf region meet each week in the Moukhtara Palace in Beirut. There, greeted with hot Turkish coffee, Arab hospitality makes them feel right at home.

Like many sovereign states, the Holy See pursues an active foreign policy, wielding enormous influence on international decision-making. We visit the Vatican’s foreign ministry, where world peace is always on the agenda.

Countries are busy investing in their tourism industries but this no longer means simply hotels and restaurants. Meet the next generation of maître d's, waiters and flight attendants who are enrolling in the world's best schools to learn the fine art of flawless hospitality.

Countries are busy investing in their tourism industries but this no longer means simply hotels and restaurants. Meet the next generation of maître d’s, waiters and flight attendants who are enrolling in the world’s best schools to learn the fine art of flawless hospitality.

Countries are busy investing in their tourism industries but this no longer means simply hotels and restaurants. Meet the next generation of maître d’s, waiters and flight attendants who are enrolling in the world’s best schools to learn the fine art of flawless hospitality.

Perched between ravines and woodland in Baden-Württemberg’s valleys, a crop of homegrown companies are branching out while remaining faithful to their roots. From a watchmaker to a brewery, we size up the firms successfully combining tradition with technology.

Spain is doing an eloquent job of selling itself around the world by using its language to introduce people to its customs and culture. We meet the Madrid and Tokyo branches of the Instituto Cervantes’ global network.

When Qantas successfully wedded its brand to an Australian anthem, it was an ad man’s dream come true. After nearly 20 years, the welcoming campaign is still going strong thanks to the children’s choirs that bring the commercials to life.

Meet the architecture firms that put a premium on coming up with elegant solutions for interiors that reflect their owners’ personalities. Their work in Bangkok, Christchurch and Vienna imbues hotels, restaurants and bars with warmth, cordiality and soul.

Meet the architecture firms that put a premium on coming up with elegant solutions for interiors that reflect their owners’ personalities. Their work in Bangkok, Christchurch and Vienna imbues hotels, restaurants and bars with warmth, cordiality and soul.

Meet the architecture firms that put a premium on coming up with elegant solutions for interiors that reflect their owners’ personalities. Their work in Bangkok, Christchurch and Vienna imbues hotels, restaurants and bars with warmth, cordiality and soul.

We meet the makers and painters continuing the aesthetic legacy of their cities, creating and preserving signs with gold leaf, ochre-white paint and neon tubes.

What goes into the cocktail shaker to rustle up a peerless drinking den? Our editors (all experts on the subject, of course) sat down over a bottle or two to come up with this vision of the perfect bar; come and join us for a livener.

As hotels strive to personalise premises, a wave of family-run inns is offering a homespun brand of Med hospitality.

Prepare to be taken to local hearts the world over with our guide to graciousness.

The UK's relationship with the EU, Catalonia's secessionist drive and a conversation with the mayor of Berlin.

Barack Obama's presidential motorcade and Montréal's new approach to deradicalisation.

Building a new state capital in India, South Korean entertainment and a political dynasty in the Philippines.

Malian migration and Uganda's elections. Plus: South Africans head home.

Why Australia's fifth prime minister in five years may stick around and the country's Antarctic adventure.

Saudi Arabia steps up its stocks of smart munitions and both the UK and Ukraine add to their air forces.

We meet the Swedish ambassador to Tunisia and Libya; we also assess Syria talks in Vienna.

Food-focused pop-ups in Dallas, shock-absorbing stabilisers in Tokyo and co-working spaces in London.

Choice cuts from the world's creative minds.

This month's audio and visual highlights

Auctions in Los Angles, the Gajah Gallery in Singapore and more.

Furniture-makers, a type foundry and an events space to rent. Plus: our Design editor has some tips for the tradeshows.

Jumpers, glasses and Japanese jackets.

Blessed are the cheesemakers – not to mention the brewers, bakers and restaurateurs – who make sitting down to eat and drink with friends such a keen pleasure. Here’s our pick of the vital victuallers making Monocle’s February menu.

Mikheil Saakashvili has gone from being president of Georgia to governor of Odessa in Ukraine – and taken his core principles with him. Monocle finds out he plans to use his experience to reform and revitalise the region.

Innovative brands extending their reach, fresh-faced start-ups launching their first ventures and established institutions in line for a facelift: we round up what's new and notable in hospitality worldwide for the year ahead.

‘Game of Thrones’ and high-definition, step aside: ‘Game of Silence’ and ultra-high-definition are here to take centre stage. Tune in for all the televisual delights that 2016 and beyond has to offer with our titillating round-up.

Hospitality is very much in the blood for restaurateur and hotelier Rogério Fasano: his grandfather opened the first Fasano restaurant more than a century ago. As he prepares to launch in the US, ‘Gero’ tells us how he gets the best from his team.

Karl-Marx-Allee was the most famous street in the GDR, lined with socialist-era ‘palaces of the workers’.These apartment blocks are now attracting a discerning crowd and fostering a creative community – and the Henselmann Tower is the big red star.

Our hospitable haul offers soaps to scrub with, sake to raise a toast, a lamp to set the mood and a scent-ilating incense burner for creating just the right atmosphere for entertaining.

In a village just outside Venice the focus turns from canals to confection: we visit the factory where Scaldaferro makes its renowned nougat.

What next when you run a successful Basque restaurant? Open another one next door. We meet the team.

Nobu Matsuhisa's musings on the passion and perseverance that have been keys to his success. We sit down with the renowned chef in Miami for his Last Meal.

Classic Japanese bars, with their soothing lighting, knowledgeable and immaculately turned-out bar staff and loyal clientele, have remained blissfully resistant to change. What are you having?

A warm welcome from editor in chief Tyler Brûlé as he expounds on the importance of receiving guests in the right way: fail to invest the necessary finances and effort when it comes to first impressions and it could be the last you see of potential clients.