The Good News in South Africa today is that Cape Town is once again being promoted around the world as a top travel destination...
Cape Town, our very own Mother City, has made it onto the prestigious National Geographic Traveler Magazine’s Places of a Lifetime website!
The site, which receives a phenomenal 600 000 visits per week, currently lists 40 top destination cities around the globe, from places as obvious as London and Paris, to those as diverse as Mumbai, Prague and Beijing.
The idea behind the site, launched back in 1999, is to list iconic cities that anyone considering themselves well-travelled ought to have visited in their lifetime. As with each city listed, there is an editorial piece, followed by information on Cape Town accommodation, things to do, restaurants and other information pertinent to travellers to South Africa’s Mother City.
Being listed is no mean feat for Cape Town, as the National Geographic brand is held in high esteem globally. Cape Town is also the first city on the African continent to have been placed on the site to date.
Yet Capetonians will not be overly surprised at the announcement as the beautiful city, easily South Africa’s top tourist destination, consistently tops popularity lists of all kinds in both on- and off-line press and media.
Two recent examples:
- From a Business Day report – July 2008 : “Cape Town has been ranked by the latest Mercer World-Wide Quality of Living survey as the best city one could live in … in the Middle East and Africa.” (source: allAfrica.com )
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The much-hyped Travel and Leisure Magazine Awards listed Cape Town as the 3rd best city in the World for 2008, just below Bangkok and Buenos Aires, and ahead of (amongst others) Sydney, Rome and New York.
Think Cape Town is over-rated? We’d love to get your comments on which South African city you think should get more attention, and why.