September 7, 2007
India has been ranked as the number one travel destination in the world this year, a huge leap from its fourth position in 2006. Italy, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand follow India as the favourite destinations.
According to this year's Readers' Travel Awards, considered as the Oscars of the travel industry, India has worked its charm on global travellers to claim the numero uno position. Condé Nast Traveller, a UK-based publisher of travel guides, has announced the awards in London on September 3, 2007.
Reacting to India's stupendous success, Minister for Tourism & Culture Ambika Soni said, "India was the tenth most preferred destination in 2004, fourth in 2006 and is now at the top in 2007 and that is where we want it to be. We are proud and privileged to be the recipients of this prestigious award."
India has outdone herself and has proven to the world that she is as good as the rest of the world when it comes to world-class tourism destination, he added.
According to Ministry of Tourism Joint Secretary Leena Nandan, "India has a richness and diversity that is unmatched the world over and we are happy that Condé Nast Traveller has recognised it and given us the award for the most-favoured destination."
Condé Nast Traveller had conducted a survey among British travellers to figure out the most sought-after destination. The replies were collated and analysed by an independent market-research company, Market Management.
The nominations were judged on a range of criteria particular to each category, from 'range of accommodation' to 'environmental friendliness'.
The influx of British tourisms to India is growing with every passing year and the respondents to this survey are some of the most sophisticated and avid travellers across the world. They form an integral part of the discerning and growing numbers of readers of this widely read magazine, which is considered to be the leading authority on travel and tourism in the UK.
The survey, besides being inserted into the April 2007 issue of all 26,600 UK subscriber copies and 33,000 UK newsstand copies of CN Traveller (which went on-sale on 8th March) would also be available on the cntraveller.com.
The rankings in these Awards are an index of satisfaction with travel facilities and services, scored out of a maximum of 100.
In the Readers' Travel Awards questionnaire, readers were asked to choose the best that the travel world has to offer, everything from hotels and spas to airlines and airports.
The survey was done via a questionnaire that was part of the May issue of the magazine and simultaneously posted online at cntraveller.com for the same period.
Readers were then asked to rate their choices according to various criteria, such as service and value for money. From these responses, the average mark on each criterion was calculated and used to provide the overall satisfaction percentage figure that is in the league tables and The World's Top 100.
Condé Nast Traveller is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. It had the reputation for being the most prestigious in Britain, since they are based on the readers' nominations based on a list of criteria. |
