Condé Nast Traveler announced today that its readers have voted San Francisco the number one city to visit in the United States.
Over 10 million people visit PIER 39 each year making it the most visited place in San Francisco. Photo by Joel Williams
More than 25,000 readers participated in the 2009 Readers’ Choice Survey. The complete award results will appear in the November 2009 issue and on the magazine’s Web site at cntraveler.com/readerschoice.
San Francisco, with a total of 84.8, scored higher than Bangkok (82.2), Hong Kong (81.3), Florence (84.6), Buenos Aires (81.9) and Vancouver (82.3). The only city that scored higher than San Francisco was Sydney, Australia, with 86.9. One of the factors contributing to San Francisco’s ranking was its worldwide high restaurant score.
San Francisco-based airline Virgin America also earned top honors, coming in as the number one U.S. Domestic Airline for the second year in a row.
“The big news is that, undaunted by tough times, our readers are still out there, discovering the coolest experiences and reaffirming an enduring passion for travel,” said Condé Nast Traveler Editor in Chief Klara Glowczewska. “It’s clear that our readers are as devoted to the worldwide diversity of travel as ever.”
“San Francisco continues to be recognized for its scenic beauty, diverse neighborhoods, restaurants and cultural attractions by travelers worldwide,” said San Francisco Convention & Visitor Bureau President and CEO Joe D’Alessandro. “We are grateful to the readers who took the time to participate in the survey and for helping make San Francisco the number one city for another consecutive year.”
Every year since 1988, a select sample of Condé Nast Traveler readers have taken the Readers’ Choice Survey. In 2009, the questionnaire was available to all readers through a secure website. Each candidate city was rated, by various criteria, on a five-point scale: excellent, very good, good, fair, poor. Criterion scores, which represent the percentage of respondents rating a candidate excellent or very good, were averaged to determine the final score—for example, in the category of Islands, Maui’s 90.1 is the average of its scores for Activities, Atmosphere/Ambience, Beaches, Friendliness, Lodging, Restaurants, and Scenery.
The Readers Choice Awards gala took place on October 15, 2009 in New York City at the IAC Building, and was hosted by Stanley Tucci and Mary Louise Parker.
