NZ voted top travel destination - again

12.00pm

New Zealand has yet again won top rating as a tourist destination.

The country has been voted favourite travel destination for the third consecutive time by the readers of Wanderlust, one of the UK's top travel magazines.

The awards were launched in 1999.

New Zealand has topped the survey each time, this year scoring a near perfect 97.4 per cent satisfaction rating.

Tourism New Zealand chief executive George Hickton said the result was good news for the New Zealand tourism industry.

"We can see in the visitor arrival figures that New Zealand is very popular with the UK.

"However, endorsement like this, with such a high satisfaction rating, is a great indication of the sort of experience they are having in New Zealand, and a great reflection on the New Zealand tourism industry."

Even better, Mr Hickton said, Wanderlust magazine was the sort of publication that New Zealand's ideal visitor would read.

Tourism Minister Mark Burton also welcomed the news, congratulating the entire tourism sector on its outstanding work.

"New Zealand's tourism operators are clearly focusing more and more on quality -- a key component in securing a sustainable, long-term future for the industry," he said.

The Wanderlust award is just the latest boost to the tourism sector.

Only last month the Harris Poll, a long-running and respectable United States public opinion survey showed New Zealand had jumped six places to number seven as the country where American visitors would most like to go on holiday.

In addition, luxury lodges in New Zealand now fill four out of the top 10 places in the latest list of International Resort Hideaways by the authoritative Andrew Harper's Hideaway Report.

"These reports, among others, illustrate the success of this government's partnership with the industry, which is attracting high value, high yield international visitors," Mr Burton said.

- NZPA