Auckland named Australasia’s top tourism destination

Media release

19 October 2012

Auckland named Australasia’s top tourism destination

Auckland has once again beaten Sydney, Bora Bora, The Whitsunday Islands and Fiji's Yasawa Islands to take out the title for Australasia’s top destination in the 2012 World Travel Awards.

Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED) is delighted that Auckland has received the prestigious accolade, the city’s second win in three years in this category.

Now celebrating its 19th anniversary, the World Travel Awards (WTA) acknowledge and recognise excellence in the global travel and tourism industry. The travel elite of Asia, Australasia and the Indian Ocean were announced at a ceremony hosted in Singapore on Thursday 18 October.

Also recognised in the awards were Air New Zealand, named Australasia’s leading airline for the fourth year in a row, and Tourism New Zealand, named Australasia’s leading tourist board.

ATEED Acting General Manager Destination Jason Hill says the win reflects Auckland’s ever-growing strength as a truly international destination.

“This is an outstanding result that once again shows Auckland is more than holding its own against some of the world’s most popular destinations. We are consistently ranked as one of the best places in the world to visit, live, study and invest, and this latest award is further testament to that,” says Mr Hill.

The awards, described by the Wall Street Journal as the ‘Oscars’ of the global travel and tourism industry, reveal who are the ‘best of the best’ in the world. Votes are cast by 183,000 travel professionals, including travel agencies, tour and transport companies and tourism organisations in over 160 countries across the globe.

Winners of the regional ceremony will now go on to compete in the World Travel Awards 2012 Grand Final in New Delhi on 12 December 2012.

ATEED works to help drive Auckland’s visitor economy and contribute to making Auckland the world’s most liveable city.

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