One of the places I’ve put high up on my 2017 Travel Bucket List is Quito, Ecuador’s lovely capital city which sits 2,850 metres above sea level, making it the highest national capital in the world. Anyone I know who has visited Quito, with its Andes backdrop, tells me it’s one of the most beautiful cities in the world and the people there are some of the friendliest in South America. If that’s not enough of an incentive, the Quito Tourism Board sent me five more reasons why I should be there in 2017:

1- After winning "South America's Leading Destination 2016," Quito has been nominated as one of the World's Leading Destinations 2016 by the World Travel Awards alongside other top global cities such as London and New York. In case you'd like to learn more and vote, visit https://www.worldtravelawards.com/award-worlds-leading-destination-2016

2- Quito is about to host an event that only takes place every 20 years - Habitat III, the United Nations World Summit on Urban Sustainable Development,<https://habitat3.org/> which will take place October 17-20, 2016. Quito is the first Latin American city to ever host the conference and over 30,000 delegates are expected to attend.

3- Due to its practices to mitigate climate change, Quito has not only been recognized as the most sustainable city in Ecuador, but has also been selected as one of 17 finalist cities for the Most Sustainable City in the World Award, a distinction awarded by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). The city has taken significant steps in reducing its carbon footprint through reforestation and clean energy. Since January 2015, over 385 million trees have been planted, and recently Quito has replaced all public lighting with LED bulbs.

4- Quito is considered one of the safest capital cities in Latin America, according to the latest regional monitoring conducted by the Igarape Institute, an independent think tank based in Rio de Janeiro. Using the homicide rate per 100,000 inhabitants as a key indicator, Quito is ranked No. 5 of the 10 most secure cities in Latin America, with a homicide rate of 1.9%. For more information, please visit: https://igarape.org.br/apps/observatorio-de-homicidios/.

5- Quito continues to grow its hotel offering with new hotels (international & boutique), including La Carlota <http://carlota.ec/en/>  which opened in July. La Carlota is an example of the restoration efforts taking place in the Historic Centre. Many of these buildings are being restored and re-envisioned as places to discover; in addition to hotels, there's also museums and other cultural centres. Other new hotels soon to come include: The San Patricio Hilton Hotel, the Eurobuilding Express Hotel, the Royal Green Hotel and a new Holiday Inn.