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St. Petersburg wins two 2017 World Travel Awards

St. Petersburg was named winner in two categories - World's Leading Cultural City Destination 2017 and World's Leading City Destination 2017

© Sergei Konkov/TASS

ST. PETERSBURG, December 12. /TASS/. St. Petersburg, Russia’s second largest city, has won two prizes at the 24th annual World Travel Awards ceremony, which took place on Vietnam’s Phu Quoc island.

St. Petersburg was named winner in two categories, World's Leading Cultural City Destination 2017 and World's Leading City Destination 2017, said Andrei Mushkarev, the head of the local committee for tourism development.

Read also

St. Petersburg expects more than 7 mln tourists in 2017

"We believe that these awards are well-deserved and expectable," the official said.

In September, the leaders and experts of the world’s tourism industry gathered in St. Petersburg for the World Travel Awards’ Europe Gala Ceremony 2017 where the host city picked up the award for Europe’s Leading City Destination.

"After seeing St. Petersburg with their own eyes, they could not stay indifferent to the Venice of the North and deny its tourist potential," Mushkarev said.

In 2015, St. Petersburg was named Europe’s best tourist destination.

Founded in 1993, World Travel Awards is the travel industry's most prestigious awards program, rewarding leaders in the tourism, airline, hotel and hospitality sectors around the world.

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