05 February 2010

Travel websites Ã¢â¬Åâœovertaking" guidebooks

Traditional guidebooks have been overtaken by travel websites when it comes to user satisfaction, according to the results of Wanderlust magazine’s annual travel awards.

There was a significant ‘satisfaction gap’ of more than 15% between the top guidebook series Lonely Planet, which scored 79% and the most favoured website wildfrontiers.co.uk, which scored 95%.

All of the top ten websites managed to exceed the 80% mark.

More than 2,000 readers of the magazine voted in the annual poll which measured people’s satisfaction ratings in different areas including their favourite travel guidebooks and websites.

Editor in chief Lyn Hughes said: "The pace of change in travel has never been faster and these results show traditional guidebooks struggling to complete with blogs and websites which can be updated dozens of times each hour."

Namibia was voted top country while Colombia was the topemerging destination and Luang Prabang in Laos was top city.

New entries into the Top Country category include Botswana and Iceland in 8^th and 9^th positions. Monaco trailed in last place with a 40% rating.

The Met Office was given a special award voted by the editors for the Greatest Disservice to Travel for its wildly inaccurate forecasting, closely followed by Unite, the BA cabin crew union.

Scotland’s West Highland Line won the world’s best rail journey and Wolverhampton trailed in last place in the cities category.

Top Results:

Top Country	Top City	Top Tour Operators

1. Namibia	1. Luang Prabang	1. Trailfinders
2. Oman	2. Siena	2. Audley Travel
3. New Zealand	3. Berlin	3. Cox & Kings
4. Australia	4. Seville	4. Tucan Travel
5. Laos	5. Kyoto	5. Imaginative Traveller
6. Japan	6. Melbourne	6. Exodus
7. Canada	7. Boston	7. Wild Frontiers
8. Botswana	8. Krakow	8. Intrepid Travel
9. Iceland	9. San Francisco	9. Journey Latin America
10. Nepal	10. Tallinn	10. Bales Worldwide

Top Emerging Destination
1. Colombia
2. Madagascar
3. Bhutan
4. Maldives
5. Israel
6. Mongolia
7. Libya
8. Iran
9. Rwanda
10.Uzbekistan

Top Worldwide Airport	Top Major Airline	Top UK Airport

1. Singapore Changi	1. Singapore Airlines	1. London City
2. Hong Kong International	2. Etihad	2. Southampton
3. Vancouver	3. Air New Zealand	3. Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
4. Seoul Incheon	4. Qatar Airways	4. Birmingham International
5. Kuala Lumpur	5. Emirates	5. Inverness
6. Narita	6. Kingfisher	6. Doncaster Robin Hood
7. Amsterdam Schipol	7. Bangkok Airways	7. Bristol International
8. Munich	8. Virgin Atlantic	8. Edinburgh
9. Copenhagen	9. Swiss International Air Lines	9. Exeter
10. Stockholm	10. Malaysia Airlines	10. Manchester

Top Rail Journey	Top Website	Top Travel Equipment Brand

1. West Highland	1. wildfrontiers.co.uk	1. North Face
2. Trans Siberian	2. seat61.com	2. Rohan
3. Eurostar	3. Audleytravel.com	3. Berghaus
4. Cusco-Puno	4. journeylatinamerica.com	4. Craghoppers
5. The Ghan	5. Wanderlust.co.uk	5. Kathmandu
6. Rocky Mountaineer	6. Responsibletravel.com
7. Glacier Express	7. exodus.co.uk
8. Orient Express	8. bookings.com