Sydney back to fourth In World’s Best Cities Awards

Travel + Leisure Australia magazine has announced prestigious World’s Best Awards Winners for 2008 and Sydney is once again rising through the ranks, moving back up to fourth position this year after falling to fifth in 2007.

Sydney has previously dominated the category by being voted World’s Best City an extraordinary eight out of 13 times.

Bangkok was voted World’s Best City in 2008, followed by Buenos Aires and Cape Town, proving travellers today are favouring edgier, more exotic destinations to the traditional European cities which have previously featured high on the list. Florence, which was voted number one in both 2005 and 2006, fell to number five this year.

“Sydney’s tourism industry will no doubt be pleased to be climbing up the list again,” said Travel + Leisure Australia editor, Anthony Dennis. “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.” “This announcement is particularly good news of course, as Sydney prepares to host World Youth Day, its biggest event since the Olympics.” Dennis believes that Bangkok’s ranking as number one city reflects the growing interest in Asia among affluent US travellers.

Travel + Leisure Australia today announced the World’s Best Awards results on behalf of its US parent publication, the world’s highest circulating travel title. Based on responses from Travel + Leisure US readers, the awards reflect the preferences, tastes and travel habits of some of the world’s most sophisticated travellers – a vital travel market for Australia and New Zealand.

“These awards are the most respected, independent, definitive and influential in the international travel industry. The world’s tourism and travel operators acknowledge these awards as reflective of the industry’s trends and tastes globally,” said Dennis.

In the World’s Best Islands list, Tasmania, which didn’t make the top ten list at all last year, ranked impressively at number five, as well as claiming the top position in the list of best islands in Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific. The Great Barrier Reef Islands moved up one rank to number nine in the world this year from number ten on last year’s list, a notable result considering the wave of flight cuts the islands have been suffering, however it fell to number two in the regional list.

The 2008 World’s Best Island overall are the Galapagos Islands.

Whilst Sydney retained its number one position as Best City in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific region, three other Australian cities entered the top five this year, knocking out all but Queenstown in terms of New Zealand’s cities, which came in at number three. Melbourne was voted the second best city in the region, with Perth and Hobart both making the list at fourth and fifth respectively. The last time Perth and Hobart have ranked on the list of top cities in Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific was in 2005 when Perth ranked four and Hobart five.

“It’s great to see some other Australian cities being appreciated by international travellers,” said Dennis.

Three Australian and New Zealand properties made it onto the World’s Best Awards list of Top 100 Hotels Overall this year, which was one category Australia missed out on completely last year. Voyages on Lizard Island and The Westin in Sydney both made the grade for Australia, as did Treetops Lodge, Rotorua for New Zealand, which displaced last year’s entry, Huka Lodge, Taupo.

“Despite Australia scoring a couple of entries in the top 100 list of World’s Best Hotels this year, the poll suggests there are still challenges for the Australian tourism industry to deliver internationally distinctive accommodation in the face of fierce competition from overseas markets.” Whilst Qantas ranked number seven ranking in the World’s Best International Airline category, this year it does not feature in the list at all. Singapore Airlines was voted number one airline for the thirteenth time this year, followed by Emirates Airline, Thai Airways International, and Cathay Pacific Airways respectively.

“Trends and insights from the latest World’s Best Awards are a barometer of the latest global travel industry worldwide. As ever, the results provide a challenge for the local tourism organisations in terms of innovation,” Dennis said.

A full list of the results is available at www.travelandleisure.com.au and in Travel + Leisure US’s August 2008 issue.

Travel + Leisure Australia is one of seven international Travel + Leisure editions, including the US parent title.

The full list of the 2008 World’s Best Awards is available at www.travelandleisure.com.au

A Report by The Mole