Sydney number four on travel destination list

US tourists are giving Australia high ratings as a holiday destination, with Sydney being voted as the number four city in the world of top places to visit, according to a new magazine survey.

The US travel magazine, Travel and Leisure, recently released the list of its ‘World’s Best’ awards, with Bangkok, Thailand taking the top spot on the list.

Buenos Aires, Argentina was ranked second and Cape Town, South Africa came in third. Sydney’s fourth place moved it up one in the ranking’s from last year’s fifth place spot. This year, Florence, Italy came in fifth.

Anthony Dennis, the editor of Travel and Leisure Australia, remarked that the new poll results were good news for the travel industry in New South Wales, particularly after previous criticism regarding the state’s tourism industry failing to take advantage of the opportunities associated with the 2000 Olympics, held in Sydney.

“The NSW government has been heavily criticised in recent years for not doing enough to capitalise on the success of events like the 2000 Olympics and the 2003 Rugby World Cup, but this result indicates that Sydney still rates highly among travellers in comparison to other great world cities,” Mr Dennis commented.

There was bad news for the nation’s airline, Qantas, as it didn’t place on the list of World’s Best Airlines. In that poll, Singapore Airlines was ranked number one, followed by Emirates in second place, Thai Airways in third and Cathay Pacific in fourth.

www.travelandleisure.com.