San Diego and the San Diego Tourism Authority (SDTA) received numerous awards throughout 2014 for destination museums, attractions, spas, parks and beaches, as well as recognition for SDTA’s marketing efforts from tourism industry organizations. Some of the awards San Diego received in 2014 include:

Meetings & Incentive Industry Awards

• In Nov. 2014, the San Diego Tourism Authority was recognized by Meetings & Conventions Magazine, receiving the Gold Service Elite Award for the 31st year in a row.
• In Aug. 2014, San Diego ranked #5 as a Top Meeting Destination in the U.S. according to Cvent, a technology firm used by meeting planners around the world for booking conventions. The company tracks more than 5,000 cities across the country and produces a ranking of the leading 50 convention destinations.
• In May 2014, San Diego was ranked #3 Most Popular Destination according to the Pacific World Destination Index, based on requests into more than 80 destinations and 60,000 annual international delegates.

Media Recognitions

• In Aug. 2014, San Diego ranked #6 in the category of America’s Coolest Cities according to Forbes magazine.
• In Aug. 2014, the lifestyle website Thrillist deemed San Diego “the most dominating beer city in world history” in their ranking of every U.S. state by its beer. California ranked #2 overall.
• In Aug. 2014, San Diego ranked #5 among Top Cities for Fast-Growth Companies, according to Inc.com, which noted the dominance of UCSD’s medical center and Qualcomm among other fast growth companies in the region.
• In Aug. 2014, Coronado Beach ranked #6 in Top 10 U.S Beaches according to The Travel Channel.
• In July 2014, San Diego was ranked the #1 Buzziest Beach Town according to Yahoo! Travel. By canvassing sites like Tumblr, Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, WordPress, and YouTube, and cross-referencing with travel sites like TripAdvisor, Yahoo! Travel pinpointed the top ten hottest beach towns in the United States.
• In June 2014, The Institute of Museum and Library Services released a database showing that San Diego County ranks 4th in the U.S. for number of museums, behind Los Angeles, New York and Chicago. There are 35,000 museums in the United States and San Diego County has 248.
• In April 2014, Coronado Brewing was awarded Champion Mid-Size Brewery/Brewmaster at the World Beer Cup in Denver, Co. The panel of 219 judges from 31 countries worked in teams to conduct blind tasting evaluations of beers from around the globe to determine the awards.
• In March 2014, San Diego was selected as the #3 Top 10 Kid-Friendly Cities in the U.S. by Family Fun magazine in their FamilyFun Travel Awards. The San Diego Zoo ranked #8 as Best Zoos for Kids by Family Fun magazine.
• In Feb. 2014, the San Diego Tourism Authority won two Poppy Awards, Visit California’s prize recognizing exceptional marketing in the tourism industry. SDTA won Best Social Media Initiative and Best Overall Marketing Campaign for a destination.

Choice Awards

• In Oct. 2014, San Diego ranked #1 for Best Weather and Best Spa Vacations according to the readers of Travel + Leisure magazine in their “America’s Favorite Cities” issue. San Diego also ranked in the top 5 for several other categories, including Athletic/Active (#2) and Attractive People (#2), Best Beach Getaways (#4), Most Relaxing Weekend (#4) and Best Romantic Escape (#5).
• In Aug. 2014, San Diego was the winner of Parenting OC's Readers’ Choice Awards for Best Weekend Getaway. 
• In Aug. 2014, LEGOLAND California Resort ranked #6 Best Theme Park in USA Today’s Readers’ Choice contest.
• In June 2014, TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice Awards named Balboa Park #7 for Top 10 U.S. Parks. According to the travel website that specializes in customer ratings of hotels and other attractions, the park has “so much to see and do in this one beautiful area of San Diego.” The San Diego Zoo ranked #2 among the World’s Best Zoos and San Diego also ranked as the seventh Best Tourist Spot in the U.S. TripAdvisor concluded, "San Diego embodies laid-back California culture."