New Zealand celebrates award as top country for tourism

UK travellers participating in the Conde Nast Traveller Readers’ Awards 2008 has voted New Zealand as the leading country in the world for tourism.

For five consecutive years, British readers of the magazine have rated New Zealand in the top five world-wide destinations in the annual voting.

The New Zealand tourism minister, Damien O’Connor, has attributed the accolade to the “high-quality experience” the country provides for visitors and has said to tourism industry operators throughout New Zealand that this is an honour of which they should be “justifiably proud.”

He continued, commenting on a recent tourism campaign: “With Tourism New Zealand’s latest $7.3 million campaign due to launch in the United Kingdom on Sunday, this is timely recognition that New Zealand continues to exceed the expectations of visitors from our second largest market.

O’Connor added: “Our ability to continue to compete with other countries will depend on delivering a better product than our competitors, ensuring we are environmentally, economically, socially and culturally sustainable.”

In the list of the top five tourism countries, New Zealand took top honours, followed by India, Italy, Thailand and Brazil, as the UK’s other favourites.

New Zealand’s Auckland Airport was voted the sixth-favourite international airport, and the national carrier, Air New Zealand, was rated by UK travellers as the sixth-best airline.

www.cntraveler.com