Tokyo, Kyoto named world's 2 best cities in U.S. magazine poll
Tokyo and Kyoto have been picked as the world’s best and second best cities outside the United States, the U.S. travel magazine Conde Nast Traveler said Tuesday.
Magazine readers cast more than 100,000 votes for their favorite cities in the 2016 poll, according to the website of the magazine, and Japan’s current and ancient capitals climbed the ranking from 15th and ninth the previous year, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization.
The magazine highlighted Tokyo’s variety encompassing modern skyscrapers, historic temples and shrines, adding it is “one of the world’s best food destinations.”
Also in the poll, the Mandarin Oriental, Tokyo, was named the top hotel in Northern Asia, while All Nippon Airways came in fifth in the “Best Airlines in the World” ranking.
The total number of foreign visitors to Japan this year is expected to top 20 million for the first time. The government has doubled its annual target of overseas visitors to 40 million in 2020.
As of August 2016, the total number of visitors from the United States to Japan has been reaching the highest records per month for 29 months straight. From January 2016 to August 2016, the total number of travelers from the U.S. has now reached eight-hundred-seventeen-thousand (817,600 to be exact), this is a 19.9% increase from the previous year. Furthermore, the total number of visitors from the U.S. in 2015, reached more than one million visitors (1,033,258 to be exact), with 15.9% increase from the year before. (Provided by JNTO)
