Cape Town was ranked 6th overall in the 11th annual poll of The World's Best Awards, a competition that is highly esteemed by the travel world.

Andrew Arnolds, deputy mayor of Cape Town attended the awards ceremony at the Rockefeller Centre in New York this week. He said that the award reaffirms the Mother City as a world-class destination. Awards like these strengthen the city's position on the international stage and create huge potential for addressing many of the socio-economic problems in South Africa.

Cape Town received a score of 85.39 from readers, putting it ahead of places like New York City, Buenos Ares and Venice. The awards puts Cape Town amongst some of the perennial favourite cities in the world, such as Florence, which was voted favourite destination city for the second time, Bangkok and Sydney. Readers of the magazine poll the cities based on various categories such as hotels, tourist infrastructure and general appeal

Some of the hotels in Cape Town that were highly rated included the Mount Nelson, Table Bay Hotel and the Cape Grace. But is was another South African hotel, Singita Private Game Reserve, Sabi Sands, that was rated the top hotel overall, receiving a rating of 97.56.

More than one out of every two visitors to South Africa visits Cape Town. And Cape Town is also one of the top destinations in the world for conferences, congresses and conventions, coming in at number 30, on a par with cities like Sydney, Vancouver and Glasgow in the recent International Congress and Convention association's global rankings.

All in all, Cape Town is putting out the welcome mat as tourists and business people enjoy her hospitality and beauty.

Source: S.A. Good News, October 2006