World's 100 Best Travel Destinations

A recent survey of popular tourist destinations by travel website specialists Trip Advisor has thrown up a few surprises and may offer some interesting alternatives for those looking at overseas property investment.

Using a mixture of hits for popular articles and forums, together with direct questions to members of the site a full picture of popular countries and a list of the world’s 100 best travel destinations has been created.

So if you want to know where The Jones are heading this summer read on….

On the worldwide stage New Zealand takes the top two places with Milford Sound and extreme sports hub Queenstown, the most popular choice of destination for many. Featuring at number five in the overall charts, Rhodes in Greece is the top place to visit in Europe with no other European destination making it into the top ten of the world’s 100 best travel destinations.

The list of the top ten European destinations is topped by Rhodes, the largest of the Dodecanese Greek islands, but UK cities such as Bath, England and Edinburgh, Scotland have been prominent in the survey. Italy looks as though it is the most popular European destination with three entries in the top ten although surprisingly there is no French city in the top ten. With seven European cities making it into the top 20 of the 100 best destinations is France’s historic position and its capital Paris as the most popular European destination at risk? Experts are saying that despite the credit crunch, rising fuel costs and environmental concerns travel abroad remains as popular as ever, particularly to Europe, allaying fears of some property investors who are expecting lower rental yields this years on the back of poor summer season. Interestingly, the Best Bargain European Cities are Prague, Budapest and Lisbon contrasting against the Most Expensive European Cities of London, Paris and Rome.

The list of top US destinations is dominated by California which has not only has the top three spots with Lake Tahoe, Big Sur and San Francisco but has six representatives in the top ten list. Unsurprisingly, Hawaii also shows up well with Poipu and Lahaina filling two places in the US list which seems to offer a great indication of where tourists are looking to visit in the short to medium term at least. Seemingly, somewhere closer to home where the dollar currency still holds weight would appear to make sense but infact 50% of Americans surveyed are planning a trek across the pond to vacation in Europe this year.

2008 Travellers’ Choice World Destinations

1. Milford Sound, New Zealand
2. Queenstown, New Zealand
3. Philipsburg, St. Maarten
4. Cayo Largo, Cuba
5. Rhodes, Greece
6. Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas
7. Cruz Bay, St. John
8. Bridgetown, Barbados
9. Banff, Canada
10. Lake Tahoe, California

2008 Travellers’ Choice Europe Destinations

1. Rhodes, Greece
2. Salzburg, Austria
3. Amalfi, Italy
4. Bath, England
5. Siena, Italy
6. Dingle, Ireland
7. Bruges, Belgium
8. Lucerne, Switzerland
9. Vatican City, Italy
10. Edinburgh, Scotland

While travel trends and destination fashions change quickly within the tourism sector, many international property investors will be looking at these figures with great interest. Substantial tourist income has been at the very core of a number of major property markets including France, Spain and Portugal over the years and remains a very important element to this day. All in all there are some very interesting pointers to destinations with future property potential in this survey as well as the old holiday resort favourites.

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