Bangkok will be honoured for the fourth year in a row as the "World's Best City" by Travel & Leisure magazine with the award formally presented to the governor on July 18 in New York City.
A foreign tourist zooms in on a statue at the Grand Palace. Photo by Patipat Janthong.
The magazine sent out questionnaires to its readers between Dec 1, 2012 and April 1, 2013. When the responses were compiled, Bangkok topped the list with a score of 90.42%.
The Thai capital was followed by Istanbul at 89.96%, Florence at 89.84%, Cape Town at 89.57% and Tokyo at 89.31%.
Chiang Mai ranked 10th with a score of 88.15%. Other cities in the top 10 were Rome, Charleston, South Carolina in the US, Barcelona in Spain and Paris in France.
Besides the World’s Best City award, Bangkok also was judged Asia's Best City for the fourth year running.
The magazine said each city was rated with scores of 1 to 5 for each of six criteria: sights, culture/arts, restaurants/food, people, shopping, and value.
Bangkok Governor MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra said the award indicated that tourists truly liked Bangkok.
He urged all people in the capital to help take care of the city to make it an attractive place worth a visit in all aspects, even though Bangkok may not win the award every year.