Jerusalem's recent pick as the 17th best tourist destination in the world by Travel + Leisure Magazine was no accident. In just over 100 years, the city has morphed from desert backwater to a divided, war-torn city and now into the thriving multicultural metropolis that has made it one of the top places to visit.

While Jerusalem's historical significance and concentration of important religious and archaeological sites surely helped propel it to the top of the list, it was a also a mix of arts and culture, restaurants, shopping and value that secured the Holy City's place.

This isn't the first time Travel + leisure Magazine has chosen Jerusalem for honors. In March the magazine picked the controversial Bridge of Strings, designed by Santiago Calavatra, for best bridge worldwide.

Mayor Nir Barkat was quick to crow about the city's accomplishment, tying the ranking to a recent initiative to bring 10 million annual visitors in 10 years.
"The Municipality of Jerusalem is leading efforts to realize the great potential for tourism in the city and to significantly increase the number of tourists in the next decade. Jerusalem is a special place to more than 3.4 billion people of faith from around the world and my vision is to open up Jerusalem for everyone to enjoy," he said in a press release.

Jerusalem ranked even higher in the region, taking Number 3 honors for the Africa and Middle East section, right behind Cape Town, South Africa, and Fez, Morocco, and ahead of Cairo, Amman and Tel Aviv.

In the overall category, Jerusalem beat out London, Los Angeles, and Paris, which boasts of bringing in 45 million tourists per year.

A higher ranking next year is not out of the question. The recent opening of luxury hotels in Mamilla coupled with the completion of the Israel Museum's massive renovations and the launching of several high-end restaurants can only help the city's cache. The eventual opening of the light rail and the easing of traffic on Jaffa Street and around the city may also help, though a quick look at cities ranked higher than Jerusalem, like Rome, Bangkok and New York, shows that lack of road congestion does not play such a huge role.