LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The magazine's annual World's Best Awards was released this week. It was the first time since Hurricane Katrina in 2005 that New Orleans returned to the list.

New York took the No. 1 spot on the U.S. and Canada cities list. San Francisco came in second, followed by Charleston, South Carolina Chicago, Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Vancouver, British Columbia. After New Orleans, Quebec City, Quebec; Victoria, British Columbia, and Washington D.C. filled positions as eight, ninth and tenth.
 
New Orleans has steadily rebuilt and revitalized its tourism industry in the past few years.

Winners in the best islands category internationally include exotic locales like the Galapagos and Bali, but for the continental U.S. and Canada, the island winners are places mostly known for beautiful scenery and simple pleasures such Mount Desert Island, Maine, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, San Juan Islands, Washington and Canada's Prince Edward Island.

Winners in other categories include Abercrombie & Kent for best river cruise, which was a new category on the list. Crystal Cruises was named as best large-ship cruise line, and Singapore Airlines was selected as best international airline. Virgin America was declared best domestic airline and Hertz as best car-rental agency.

Winners for Travel + Leisure World's Best Awards were determined using results of a questionnaire made available to Travel + Leisure readers. More than 16,000 readers participated.