Jerusalem and Tel Aviv were named among the top ten cities in the Middle East and Africa by readers of the prestigious American tourism magazine "Travel + Leisure."
More than 186,000 of the people participated in the annual survey. They were asked to rate the cities on a scale of 1 to 5, according to the following categories: sites, culture, food, friendliness, shopping, and value for money.
Jerusalem came in third place with a score of 87.25 and Tel Aviv came in eighth place with a score of 82.46. In recent years, the two Israeli cities were often included in the prestigious list, but with the ongoing war and the consequent drop in tourism to Israel, their inclusion this year was noteworthy.
According to the Tourism Ministry's data, only half a million tourists visited Israel in 2024. In comparison to two million, during the same period in 2023.
The first place on the list went to Marrakesh, Morocco with a score of 89.17, second place went to Cape Town, South Africa with a score of 88.87. Jerusalem closed the top three list with a 87.25.
Dubai, UAE trails in fourth place with 86.14 and Kigali, Rwanda is the last in the top-five cities with a score of 85.93. The rest of the list includes Fez, Morocco, Essaouira, Morocco, Tel Aviv, Israel, Luxor, Egypt, and Cairo, Egypt with a score of 81.40.
The tourism magazine also published a list of the 25 best cities in the world. In first place was San Miguel de Allende, which is also known as San Miguel in Mexico. India's Udaipur came in second place, Kyoto in Japan came in third place.