Berlin, 21 May 2013 Berlin is the only German city to have been ranked among the top 25 most popular travel destinations in the world. TripAdvisor, the world's largest travel website, has just named the winners of the Travellers' Choice Destinations Awards and announced this year's rankings. The German capital is now in eleventh place, still behind cities such as Paris, New York, and London, but ahead of Istanbul, Bangkok, Chicago and Tokyo. Berlin was ranked eighth among European destinations and is at first place in Germany.

Burkhard Kieker, CEO of visitBerlin remarks: "Anyone who comes to Berlin can sense the special vibrancy of our city and people are sharing their experiences on review sites. We would like to thank our visitors for their appreciation and are delighted that Berlin is earning its place as one of the most popular destinations in the world."

Berlin was given its ranking based on millions of reviews and opinions of TripAdvisor users. The "most popular holiday destination" was selected according to the destinations that received the most reviews and were most highly rated by users. Currently, some 200 million people visit the TripAdvisor site each month.

Judging by another criterion, Berlin has already climbed to third place in Europe. With 24.9 million overnight stays in 2012, Berlin was only surpassed by London (48.0 million overnight stays) and Paris (36.9 million). Berlin is undergoing some of the most dynamic development in Europe and, with an 11.4% increase in overnight stays last year, Germany's capital has now passed Rome (23.0 million), Barcelona (17.5 million), and Madrid (15.5 million). By global standards, Berlin is rising above the crowd with its atmosphere, modern range of hotels, many trend-setters, and its diverse cultural scene, from simple to sophisticated.

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