Gumleaf
July 10th, 2008, 02:29 AM
00:13 AEST Thu Jul 10 2008
Australia has again been rated a tourist hotspot by US travellers, with Sydney voted fourth best city in the world in a new magazine survey.
US travel magazine Travel + Leisure released the results of its World's Best Awards, with Bangkok taking out the top spot on the World's Best City list.
Buenos Aires and Cape Town were voted second and third, while Sydney came in fourth after being ranked fifth last year.
This year, fifth place went to Florence.
Editor of Travel + Leisure Australia, Anthony Dennis, said the poll was good news for the NSW travel industry, after criticism the state had failed to capitalise on events such as the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
"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 said.
Sydney was also named the best city in the awards for the Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific region, followed by Melbourne, New Zealand's Queenstown, Perth and Hobart.
Tasmania made the World's Best Island category, finishing fifth on a list topped by the Galapagos Islands.
In bad news for national carrier Qantas, the flying kangaroo did not feature in the World's Best Airline list, despite finishing seventh last year.
Singapore Airlines was voted number one, followed by Emirates, Thai Airways and Cathay Pacific.
Australia has again been rated a tourist hotspot by US travellers, with Sydney voted fourth best city in the world in a new magazine survey.
US travel magazine Travel + Leisure released the results of its World's Best Awards, with Bangkok taking out the top spot on the World's Best City list.
Buenos Aires and Cape Town were voted second and third, while Sydney came in fourth after being ranked fifth last year.
This year, fifth place went to Florence.
Editor of Travel + Leisure Australia, Anthony Dennis, said the poll was good news for the NSW travel industry, after criticism the state had failed to capitalise on events such as the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
"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 said.
Sydney was also named the best city in the awards for the Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific region, followed by Melbourne, New Zealand's Queenstown, Perth and Hobart.
Tasmania made the World's Best Island category, finishing fifth on a list topped by the Galapagos Islands.
In bad news for national carrier Qantas, the flying kangaroo did not feature in the World's Best Airline list, despite finishing seventh last year.
Singapore Airlines was voted number one, followed by Emirates, Thai Airways and Cathay Pacific.