Assessed by China National Tourism Administration and an expert team from the UN World Tourism Organization, Chengdu, Hangzhou and Dalian have each been given the title "The Best Travel City in China 2006", surpassing 20 other applicant cities.

The award ceremony wasn held at the Great Hall of the People on February 8, and it was the first time that CNTA and UNWTO worked together to present this type of award.

Shao Qiwei, director-general of CNTA, said at the ceremony that the aim of organizing "The Best Travel City" activity is to upgrade the travel destinations in China, and create a better international travel brand to increase those travel cities' competitiveness to attract overseas tourists.

Francesco Frangialli, Secretary-General of UNWTO, said that China had exceeded Italy to become the fourth largest destination in the world, and he estimated that China will exceed the U.S. to become the largest destination by 2020.