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London has been ranked the number one destination on earth, ahead of rivals such as New York, Paris and Rome, by the world’s biggest travel website.

The sought-after top rating on Trip-Advisor was awarded after analysis of millions of visitor reviews of restaurants, hotels and tourist attractions.

The capital jumped from sixth place in previous years and is above, in order of rank, Istanbul, Marrakech and Paris. New York, the city London is most often compared with, came ninth.

It is now the first destination to have been top-ranked twice on TripAdvisor, having also led the list in 2012.

The number of overseas visitors to the capital has soared since the 2012 Olympics, reaching a record 17.4 million in 2014, making it the city most visited by international travellers.

Mayor Boris Johnson said: “London is undoubtedly the cultural capital of the world thanks to our iconic attractions, buzzing entertainment scene and amazing museums and galleries.

“Coupled with our abundance of top-notch hotels and restaurants offering every cuisine one’s taste buds could desire, it is no wonder London has been named the best travel destination.

It is an incredibly dynamic city with something for everyone.” The TripAdvisor figures, for 2015, also showed the capital was the most searched for destination on the site.

Scenic London 8 show all Scenic London 1/8 Central London is viewed from Richmond Park, some eight miles away Dan Kitwood/Getty Images 2/8 The sun rises over London pictured from a snow-dusted Alexandra Palace Paul Gilham/Getty Images 3/8 The Houses of Parliament and the London Eye squeeze themselves into this iconic snap of central London Dan Kitwood/Getty Images 4/8 South London's Brockwell Park offers a lesser known perspective on the towering skysrapers of Canary Wharf Dan Kitwood/Getty Images 5/8 The green of Primrose Hill blends into London's eve-changing skyline Warrick Page/Getty Images 6/8 Red London buses trundle across Waterloo Bridge Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images 7/8 Rewarding views are gained from one of the capital's latest transport innovations, the Emirates Air Line cable car Scott Heavey/Getty Images 8/8 Lush green on the undulating slopes of Richmond Hill foregrounds perhaps London's most bucolic scene Heathcliff O'Malley/REX 1/8 Central London is viewed from Richmond Park, some eight miles away Dan Kitwood/Getty Images 2/8 The sun rises over London pictured from a snow-dusted Alexandra Palace Paul Gilham/Getty Images 3/8 The Houses of Parliament and the London Eye squeeze themselves into this iconic snap of central London Dan Kitwood/Getty Images 4/8 South London's Brockwell Park offers a lesser known perspective on the towering skysrapers of Canary Wharf Dan Kitwood/Getty Images 5/8 The green of Primrose Hill blends into London's eve-changing skyline Warrick Page/Getty Images 6/8 Red London buses trundle across Waterloo Bridge Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images 7/8 Rewarding views are gained from one of the capital's latest transport innovations, the Emirates Air Line cable car Scott Heavey/Getty Images 8/8 Lush green on the undulating slopes of Richmond Hill foregrounds perhaps London's most bucolic scene Heathcliff O'Malley/REX

It attracted far more reviews than anywhere else, with just over one million, up 43 per cent on 2014.

New York received just over 680,000 reviews. The average rating for London hotels was 3.996 out of 5, while for restaurants it was 4.013 and for attractions 4.404.

Belgravia had the highest average Trip- Advisor rating for restaurants, Spitalfields for attractions, and Westminster for hotels.

Top-rated restaurant was The Five Fields in Chelsea and number-one attraction was the London Eye.

The top ten London Istanbul Marrakech Paris New York Siem Reap Prague Rome Hanoi Ubud

Jonathan Raggett, managing director of Red Carnation, which owns top-rated boutique Hotel 41 near Buckingham Palace, said: “Doing well on TripAdvisor is the ultimate accolade because it’s based on people spending their own money and giving their opinion on how we’re taking care of them.”

He said London’s great strength was its ability to constantly reinvent itself, and 2016 already was shaping up to be a bumper year, with major exhibitions planned at cultural venues such as the V&A and British Museum.

Hannah Boulton, spokeswoman for the British Museum, said visitor numbers were running ahead of last year, when a record of 6.9 million was set.

London’s profile was boosted last year by the birth of Princess Charlotte, the Rugby World Cup and blockbuster shows such as Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty, the most successful exhibition in the history of the V&A.

Visitor numbers are expected to hit another high this year with events such as the Queen’s 90th birthday celebrations and West End show Harry Potter And The Cursed Child.

TripAdvisor’s top 10 was rounded off by Siem Reap, near Angkor Wat in Cambodia (number five), Prague (six), Rome (seven), Hanoi (eight), and Ubud, on the Indonesian island of Bali (10).