Toronto has been named as a top tourist destination for 2016 by the New York Times.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Toronto has made it onto the New York Times's list of 52 top global tourist destinations for 2016, at No. 7.
The publication says Toronto is "ready for its close-up" and has been "quietly slipping out of the shadow of Montreal and Vancouver."
It singles out the public art, green spaces, bike paths and promenades of Queen's Quay on Lake Ontario and the former industrial area known as The Junction, and cites the convenience of the new Union Pearson express train without mentioning the controversy over its cost and low ridership.
On the cultural front, the Toronto International Film Festival in September gets a nod.
Also noted is the fact that the National Basketball Association's first All-Star game outside the United States is scheduled to take place in the Queen City this year.
The only other Canadian destination on the New York Times's list – released annually – is British Columbia's Southern Gulf Islands, at No. 50.
Last year, Squamish, B.C., and Quebec City made it onto the list, at numbers 32 and 40, respectively.
The top spot in the 2016 rankings is Mexico City. Other destinations are Bordeaux, France, Malta and Marfa, Tex.
Bertrand Marotte