Grand Bazaar 10th most popular tourist attraction

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Istanbul's Grand Bazaar was placed first among Europe's tourist attractions, and 10th in the world, according to a report of the top 50 most popular sites published by the American travel magazine Travel and Leisure.

Travel and Leisure magazine selected the world's top 50 tourist attractions using data acquired from the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and various publications covering the tourism sector. Other tourist attractions on the list included parks and natural wonders as well as historic and cultural monuments and sites.

The Grand Bazaar (Kapali Carsi in Turkish), built in the 15th century during the Ottoman Empire, with its 64 passageways and streets containing 3,285 shops, is the most visited tourist attraction in Europe and the 10th most visited in the world, according to Travel and Leisure's top 50, surpassing many renowned tourist attractions in Europe and the world such as the Taj Mahal, the Eiffel Tower and the British Museum.

At the top of the world attractions list is Times Square in New York, with 39,200,000 visitors; second is Central Park, also in New York, with 38 million visitors. All of the top nine places on the list are in the US, with the Grand Bazaar following them at number 10.

The Grand Bazaar surpassed Notre Dame Cathedral (13,650,000 visitors), the Louvre Museum (8.5 million visitors), the Eiffel Tower (6.7 million visitors) and Versailles Palace (5.9 million visitors)of France, the British Museum (5,842,138 visitors), Egypt's pyramids (4 million visitors) and the Taj Mahal (3 million visitors) with 15 million visitors per year.