LONDON, U.K – 4 May 2010: TripAdvisor®, the world’s largest and most popular travel community, today unveiled the winners of its 2010 Travellers’ Choice® Destination Awards, honouring the world’s top destinations based on the reviews and opinions of millions of travellers worldwide. 

The awards, spread across multiple categories, reveal great news for Scotland but put England’s capital to shame. Despite London being crowned the party capital of Europe, the 2012 Olympic host city fails to even finish as one of the world’s top 25 destinations.

The seaside resort of Weymouth in Dorset has seen a dramatic increase in popularity and is identified as an ‘Emerging Hotspot’, and Bath beats off exotic and tropical destinations in the best spa category.

Top 25 Global and European Destinations
Sadly for England not one single destination made it into the Global or European Top 25 list, indeed the only UK city to make the grade at all is Edinburgh, coming in at number 17 in Europe. Monte Carlo is the European destination most favoured, with Germany’s Heidelberg second and Austria’s Salzburg third. The top three destinations remain the same for the global list with Edinburgh scraping in at number 21.

“Millions of travellers around the world have spoken and this will serve as a stark wake-up call to London in particular. London is one of the greatest cities in the world but with the Olympics just two years away there is clearly still work to do to convince travellers that England’s capital is a world-class tourist destination,” says Emma O’Boyle, spokesperson for TripAdvisor.

Top 25 UK Destinations
Scotland steals the show in the favourite UK destinations category, as chosen by European travellers, scooping four of the top 10 spots. In addition to the winning city of Edinburgh, the Isle of Skye takes seventh position, Loch Lomond eighth and the beautiful island of Islay ninth.

Second place goes to cosmopolitan Brighton with the historic city of York clinching third and London fourth. And it may be England’s smallest city but that hasn’t stopped Wells in Somerset from beating many of its much larger rivals to sixth place.

Emerging Destinations: Watch Out For Weymouth
The TripAdvisor TravelCast identifies up-and-coming travel destinations based on increases in search activity for the past year.The classic seaside resort of Weymouth in Dorset is perhaps a surprise entry at number four.

The figures show a growing number of travellers searching for holidays to Weymouth, which boasts a picturesque 17th century harbour and World Heritage coastline. “It’s fantastic to see travellers appreciating the town’s beautiful beach and old-fashioned English hospitality. What’s more, Weymouth will soon secure its place on the global stage when it hosts the sailing events for the 2012 Olympic Games,” continued Emma O’Boyle.

Culture Vultures Flock to Italy
With its famous regal history, plethora of museums and world-class tourist attractions London comes in at number six in the European category and tenth in the world. As one TripAdvisor traveller explains, “London gets my vote for the city with the most things to do – it’s fantastic.” Although it’s even better news for Italy – three of its cities make the world top ten with Florence claiming top stop, Rome third and Venice eighth.

Party Hard in London and Newcastle
The UK and Ireland may not have performed as well in the culture or beach categories but if there’s one thing Britain does well it’s partying. Four of the top 10 European destinations for nightlife are in the UK and Ireland with London claiming the top honour, followed by Berlin second. Geordies know how to show tourists a good time too with Newcastle coming third, followed by Dublin in fourth position and Edinburgh in seventh.

New Orleans has been identified as having the best nightlife in the world, with New York – the city that never sleeps - living up to its reputation by coming second and Las Vegas third. London comes in at number five in the world and Newcastle number seven.

Best for Outdoor & Adventure
The UK can justifiably be proud of its beautiful countryside; the Lake District takes runner up in Europe’s Best for Outdoor and Adventure category, pipped only to the post by Switzerland’s Interlaken. Snowdonia is also awarded, taking the number 10 spot in Europe. In the global list the Lake District took seventh place with New Zealand’s Queenstown ranking number one overall.

Bath – Bathe in Glory
The beautiful thermal spa city of Bath beats exotic destinations in the likes of Indonesia and Costa Rica to come in at number two in the category for best spa and relaxation in the world. Bath is also the number one spa destination in Europe and one TripAdvisor traveller explains why, “Visiting Bath was amazing…we felt like gods - swimming in a huge bath on the roof tops was just indescribable.”

Best for Beach & Sun...Oludeniz
Britain is not famed for its great beach weather so perhaps it’s not surprising that no UK destination made it into this category. Oludeniz in Turkey is ranked best in Europe while Providenciales in Turks & Caicos is voted best in the world, followed by Australia’s Byron Bay. Other European beach and sun finalists were Mykonos and Aya Napa.

Please see below for further highlights and for the complete 2010 Travellers’ Choice Destination list, and for more reviews, opinions and candid holiday photographs go to: www.tripadvisor.co.uk/TCDestinations

-ends-

For further information, images or interviews, please contact:
Emma O’Boyle, TripAdvisor
020 3320 3210 / 0777 926 2423 / eoboyle@tripadvisor.com

TRIPADVISOR TRAVELLERS’ CHOICE DESTINATIONS AWARDS HIGHLIGHTS :

TOP 25 UK DESTINATIONS (ACCORDING TO EUROPEAN TRAVELLERS)
1. Edinburgh
2. Brighton
3. York
4. London
5. Liverpool
6. Wells, Somerset
7. Isle of Skye, Scotland
8. Loch Lomond and The Trossachs, Scotland 
9. Islay, Scotland
10. St Ives, Cornwall
11. Cardiff
12. Bath
13. Fort William, Scotland
14. Isle of Wight
15. Tenby, Wales
16. Belfast
17. Yorkshire Dales
18. Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
19. Windermere, Cumbria
20. Padstow, Cornwall
21. Glastonbury, Somerset
22. Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire
23. Hope Cove, Devon
24. Durness, Scotland
25. Salisbury, Wiltshire

TOP 25 EUROPEAN DESTINATIONS (ACCORDING TO GLOBAL TRAVELLERS)
1. Monte Carlo, Monaco
2. Heidelberg, Germany
3. Salzburg, Austria
17. Edinburgh

TOP GLOBAL CULTURE & SIGHTSEEING DESTINATIONS (ACCORDING TO GLOBAL TRAVELLERS)
1. Florence, Italy
2. Washington DC, USA
3. Rome, Italy
10. London, UK

TOP GLOBAL EMERGING DESTINATIONS (ACCORDING TO GLOBAL TRAVELLERS)
1. Garmisch-Partenkirch, Germany
2. Dangriga, Belize
3. Rosario, Argentina
4. Weymouth, England
5. Reggio di Calabria
9. Nairn, Scotland

TOP EUROPEAN NIGHTLIFE DESTINATIONS (ACCORDING TO GLOBAL TRAVELLERS)
1. London, UK
2. Berlin, Germany
3. Newcastle, UK
4. Dublin, Ireland
5. Amsterdam, Netherlands
6. Barcelona, Spain
7. Edinburgh, Scotland
8. Paris, France
9. Mykonos, Greece
10. Hamburg, Germany

TOP EUROPEAN BEACH & SUN DESTINATIONS (ACCORDING TO GLOBAL TRAVELLERS)
1. Oludeniz, Turkey
2. Mykonos, Greece
3. Ayia Napa, Cyprus

TOP EUROPEAN OUTDOOR & ADEVENTURE DESTINATIONS (ACCORDING TO GLOBAL TRAVELLERS)
1. Interlaken, Switzerland
2. Lake Districk, UK
3. Zermatt, Switzerland
4. Reykjavik, Iceland
5. Killarney, Ireland
6. Chamonix, France
7. Goreme, Turkey
8. Cinque Terre, Italy
9. Garmin-Partenkirch, Germany
10. Snowdonia National Park, UK

TOP GLOBAL SPA & RELAXATION DESTINATIONS (ACCORDING TO GLOBAL TRAVELLERS)
1. Sedona, Arizona
2. Bath, UK
3. Reykyavik, Iceland
4. Bora Bora, French Polynesia
5. Ubud, Bali

NOTES TO EDITORS:

AWARDS SELECTION
TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice Awards are based on the millions of real and unbiased reviews and opinions from travellers on TripAdvisor. The winners were determined by a combination of travellers' destination comments, favourite places, and overall destination popularity on TripAdvisor.

The TripAdvisor TravelCast identifies up-and-coming travel destinations based on site data including increases in search activity and postings for the past year on TripAdvisor.