Lonely Planet Names Seoul in Top 10 Cities to Visit in 2017
Lonely Planet released a list that enumerates the Top 10 Cities to Visit in 2017 and Seoul was included in the list. The world's travel website publisher backed up its decision to include the capital city of South Korea on the list by stating "For over a decade, Seoul has been striving to become a greener, more attractive and user-friendly metropolis." Seoul is also the lone Asian city that made the list, an article from Korea JoongAng Daily reported.
The article also added that Lonely Planet praised the city for its Cheonggye Stream project and the Seoul 7017 program that would develop the overpass above Seoul Station into a scenic walkway.
Regarding the inclusion of Seoul in the list, Lonely Planet published, "Following on from successful projects such as the Cheonggyecheon where an aging elevated highway was torn down and replaced with a central park and waterway, the city will unveil in the latter part of 2017 the Seoul Skygarden. This time, the old highway in question - a 938-m long, 17m-tall overpass next to transport hub Seoul Station - will become the platform on which trees, shrubs, and flowers will be planted to create an arboretum of local species."
Seoul ranked 7th on the list following Bordeaux, Cape Town, Los Angeles, Mexico's Merida, Ohrid in Macedonia, and Pistoia in Italy. Seoul was followed by Lisbon, Moscow, and Portland.
Simon Richmond, a Writer at Lonely Planet further encouraged people to visit Seoul by writing, "Across the city, hundreds of imaginative projects were softening Seoul's concrete and steel edges. Bold architectural and urban planning projects have marked out this vibrant metropolis of 10 million people as the place to watch when it comes to a crafting a design-conscious, people-centric city for the 21st century."
Seoul was also included in the Top 10 Global Destination Cities Index by MasterCard for the past three years. It was also named as the No. 3 city for international conferences by the Union of International Associations in 2015. Switch Fly also named Seoul as the city where luxury travelers stay the longest.
