Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - TRAVEL & LEISURE is an important magazine for the tourist industry, and in the 2012 "World’s Best Cities," readers' poll, Puerto Vallarta was named the 7th top city to visit in Mexico, Central and South America - moving up from #8 in 2011.

Each year, Travel + Leisure assigns their World’s Best Awards to what they call "the definitive list of top cruise lines, hotels, airlines, car rental agencies, islands and cities, according to the votes of readers." One of the special features of these awards is that they are voted on by tourists from around the world.

On the magazine's 2012 list of top cities in Mexico, Central and South America, Cuzco, Peru tops the list. Mexico City came in fourth, Playa del Carmen placed sixth, Puerto Vallarta came in at #7, (up from #8 in the 2011 polls) and Cancun was ranked #10. In the United States, New York continues to dominate as the favorite, and the top-rated city in the world is still Bangkok.

Travel + Leisure 2012 World's Best Cities in México, Central and South America

1. Cuzco, Peru, 86.62 points
2. Buenos Aires, Argentina, 86.09 points
3. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 83.48 points
4. Mexico City, Mexico, 83.40 points
5. Santiago, Chile, 78.49 points
6. Playa del Carmen, Mexico, 78.21 points
7. Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, 78.01 points
8. Lima, Peru, 76.12 points
9. Panama, 75.18 points
10. Cancun, Quintana Roo, 74.67 points

Travel + Leisure 2012 World’s Best Awards Survey Methodology

A questionnaire developed by the editors of Travel + Leisure, in association with ROI Research Inc., was made available to Travel + Leisure readers at tlworldsbest.com from December 1, 2011, to March 31, 2012. Readers were invited to participate through Travel + Leisure magazine (January, February, March, and April issues), T+L iPad editions and newsletters, and online at TravelandLeisure.com. To protect the integrity of the data, after March 31, 2012, respondents were screened by Travel + Leisure and responses from any identified travel-industry professionals who completed the survey were eliminated from the final tally.

All of Travel + Leisure's 2012 World's Best lists, including the Top 100 Hotels, Top 50 Resorts in the Continental U.S., Top 10 Cities Overall, and Top 10 Islands Overall, among other lists, are now available online at TravelandLeisure.com/worldsbest.