Jerusalem ranks 17th in the World’s Best Cities Overall for tourists list (beating out Tel Aviv, London, Los Angeles and Paris) and third on the Africa and Middle East list in Travel & Leisure magazine’s 14th annual poll. Mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, welcomed the ranking, saying that “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. The arts and culture of Jerusalem are unlike anywhere else and we are working to market our rich heritage to the world in order to attract more visitors, pilgrims and international conferences.” Mayor Barkat plans to bring jobs and lasting economic development to the residents of Jerusalem by attracting 10 million annual tourists in 10 years, compared to the two million annual tourists in recent years. This hoped-for annual increase of 15% over 10 years would create over 100,000 new jobs for all sectors of society in Jerusalem.