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TRIPADVISOR UNVEILS THE WORLD’S BEST DESTINATIONS
London shines in Olympic lead up, but loses out to Paris and Rome

LONDON, 3rd May, TripAdvisor®, the world’s largest travel site*, today unveils the winners of its 2011 Travellers’ ChoiceDestination Awards, honouring the top destinations in the UK, Europe and the world. Unlike any other awards, TripAdvisor’s Travellers’ Choice awards are based on the experiences of millions of travellers from around the world.

It’s good news for London as the capital prepares for the 2012 Olympics – travellers from across the globe have crowned it the UK’s best destination. The English capital also placed well in the World and European categories – coming eighth and third respectively – but was nevertheless beaten by European rivals Paris and Rome.

Edinburgh and Bath placed second and third respectively in the UK category, while Cape Town took the top spot overall, followed by Sydney and Peru’s Machu Picchu. Paris and Rome were winner and runner up in the European category.

“These awards honour the world’s best destinations as decided by those judges that really matter - travellers themselves,” commented Emma O’Boyle, TripAdvisor spokesperson. “Tourism is vital to the UK economy so it’s encouraging to see London and Edinburgh both highly recognised as Europe’s best destinations.”

London shines in Olympic lead up

With just 14 months to go, the capital appears on course for a successful London 2012. News of London being voted the UK’s number one, Europe’s third and the world’s eighth best destination according to millions of travellers is sure to be welcomed.

“This is especially meaningful as so much time and effort has gone into preparing the city for London 2012 and hopefully we’ll sneak ahead of Paris and Rome before the games kick off,” continued TripAdvisor’s Emma O’Boyle.

Top marks for Cape Town

South Africa’s tourism hot spot, Cape Town, has won the accolade of world’s best destination, followed by Sydney and Machu Picchu in Peru. 

“Cape Town is clearly the destination to beat,” commented Emma O’Boyle, TripAdvisor spokesperson. “With beautiful scenery, great wine and gorgeous weather, it’s easy to see why Cape Town, which also played host to last year’s World Cup, has topped this year’s list.”

      The UK’s top 25

    Europe’s top 10

       World’s top 10

1.    London

2.    Edinburgh

3.    Bath

4.    Cambridge

5.    Oxford

6.    Stratford-upon-Avon

7.    York

8.    Inverness

9.    St. Andrews

10.Liverpool

11.Glasgow

12.Brighton

13.Belfast

14.Canterbury

15.Manchester

16.St Ives

17.Cardiff

18.Windermere

19.Newcastle upon Tyne

20.Aberdeen

21.Windsor

22.Bournemouth

23.Salisbury

24.Chester

25.Oban

1.    Paris

2.    Rome

3.    London

4.    Barcelona

5.    Prague

6.    Venice

7.    St. Petersburg

8.    Florence

9.    Edinburgh

10.Istanbul

 

1.    Cape Town, South Africa

2.    Sydney, Australia

3.    Machu Picchu, Peru

4.    Paris, France

5.    Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

6.    New York City, USA

7.    Rome, Italy

8.    London, UK

9.    Barcelona, Spain

10.Hong Kong

 

For the complete 2011 Travellers’ Choice Destinations list, go to: www.tripadvisor.uk/TCDestinations (please note this link will not be live until Tuesday 2nd May)

-Ends-

Notes to Editors

TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice Destination award winners were determined based on travellers’ favourite and most visited destinations, as pinned on travel maps found on TripAdvisor and on TripAdvisor’s Facebook app “Cities I’ve Visited”.