Carefully selected by the magazine editors, the destinations were divided into 3 categories: city, nature and culture. Those including Chengdu, Canton Uri, Switzerland, Georgeia, the US, and the Cradle of Humankind, South Africa fall into the category "culture." Chengdu was awarded the title thanks to its social and economic vitality, long history and profound civilization, and fascinating food culture.

The National Geographic Traveler Magazine noted that fast-growing Chengdu is the cultural, economic, financial and business center in western China.

As a strategically important city for the Silk Road Economic Belt and Yangtze River Economic Zone, Chengdu is seizing the opportunity brought about by the "Road and Belt Initiative" to step up its process to build itself to be a national major city in the country.

As a city where tradition meets modernity, Chengdu, with a history of over 2000 years, owns 5 world cultural and natural heritage sites, and it's also a national historical and cultural city in China, keeping well a large number of valuable legacies. "Although it is not a typical city of exotic oriental culutre, but Chengdu is the only city in China with its name, location and urban layout remaining unchanged for over 2000 years."

The magazine pointed out Chengdu stood out also because of its attractive food culture. The city's food and beverage revenue hit 50.31 billion yuan in this year's first three quarters, an increase of 12% over the same period of the previous year.

As the cradle of Sichuan Cuisine, Chengdu has become more famous in the world for its food culture over the recent years. In 2010, Chengdu joined the UNESCO Creative Cities Network and became Asia's first City of Gastronomy named by UNESCO. Since then, the city has been playing a more active role in exchange and cooperation in the global food circle.

There have been over 30 Chinese Famous Snacks, 13 Time-honored Food Brands in China, over 10 food streets, such as the Wide & Narrow Alleys and Wenshu Monastery cultural block, and over 6000 restaurants throughout the city. Besides the Sichuan Cuisine, you can also find a wide variety of cuisines from other parts of China and the world here.

"The top 21 best destinations in the world were selected for all people around the globe," said George Stone, editor-in-chief of National Georaphic Traveler, adding that the list offers a good reference for the people, who can enable their journeys to be more interesting and impressive in 2017.