Annual survey taken by New York’s Travel + Leisure magazine finds Cape Town to be readers’ favorite Middle East/Africa city to visit.

Jerusalem and Tel Aviv are among the top three cities in the region to visit, according to a recent poll taken by the New York-based magazine Travel + Leisure.

Cape Town was ranked by readers as the No. 1 tourist destination in the Middle East and Africa category, with Jerusalem and Tel Aviv trailing close behind. The trend for Israel’s booming tourism industry is clear, as more than 1.6 million visitors visited the country in just the first half of 2011 alone.

Cairo and Dubai, both cities which have received overwhelming media attention as travel spots for the region in recent years, also ranked high on the poll as the fourth and fifth best tourist destinations.

Readers chose their favorite cities based on a number of criteria, including culture, sight-seeing, food and restaurants, travel costs and of course, shopping.

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