A big kiss for the local tourism industry in the middle of the busy summer travel season, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Readers of Travel + Leisure, the world's leading travel magazine, have named San Antonio one of the top ten destinations in the United States.
The cities were rated on the basis of several factors, from sights and landmarks, to culture, food, friedliness, shopping, and value.Austin was also on the list, at number eight. San Antonio is number ten. No other Texas city made the top ten list.
"San Antonio is an authentic destination," said Richard Oliver of Visit San Antonio, the city's newly independent Convention and Visitors Bureau. "People come here for the great culinary scene, we have a versitile landscape, history, culture, great food, great attractions. People just like to be here."
Oliver says San Antonio has always been known as a family destination, with the Riverwalk and the theme parks, but two new developments just in the past five years have made the Alamo City a destination for millennials, retirees, and couples as well.
One, he says, is the emergence of a truly unique culinary industry, which is focused on, but not entirely devoted to, Mexican and Latin American food.
"The arrival of the Culinary Institute of America, and the cache that comes with that, and the talent that comes with that," he said. "And look at the talent, the chefs who have stayed in San Antonio and opened up new places."
The other development is the creation of a new style of boutique hotels, exemplified by the Emma at the Pearl, which has recently made several lists of the best hotels in the entire world.
He also points to the World Heritage Designation for the San Antonio Missions, which has started to attract cultural tourism.
Oliver points out that nowhere on the list are traditional 'glitzy' tourist attractions, no Las Vegas, no Hollywood, no Miami South Beach. He says what visitors want today is an experience, and that is what San Antonio is able to provide.
The number one travel destination in the world, according to Travel + Leisure readers: Charleston South Carolina, followed by Santa Fe New Mexico.