Ah why did I leave Sydney! It got voted best city in the world yet again :)

Simply the best
Islands, hotels, airlines, cruise ships ... travellers rate their top destinations. By Geoffrey Williams
February 11, 2005
PLENTY is happening on the widening paths of travel. The world is still in love with Sydney; independent travellers from across the globe pick Australia as the next place they would most like to visit; there's a developing taste for strange meals and an around-the-world cruise is the ultimate holiday.
Sunset from Santorini, Greece
The younger generation – that's the 18-to-35 Contiki age bracket – wants a "weird experience" such as witnessing a black magic exorcism in Malawi as part of their travels, while a much older group, now defined as "bloomers", just want to travel and spend their money.
It's also come to pass that emerging travel hot spots are Africa, Alaska, Antarctica, Bhutan, Borneo, Cambodia, Central America, Cuba, Iceland and Mongolia.
Travel food for thought is that cultural culinary delights now available, with some adventure touring, include barbecued lamb skulls, pot-cooked goat innards and balut, which is a raw, developing baby duck still in the egg.
But here, we rate the barbecue as our favourite Australian speciality followed closely by Vegemite – now in a 145g easy-squeeze travel pack – but we're really not keen on damper.
How do I know this? It's because of the plethora of travel industry surveys which the good people at Lonely Planet, STA Travel, AAT Kings, Zuji and a welter of travel magazines and journals all conduct through their websites and then provide the results.
Some of the results are not surprising – as one of the top travel writers in the US, Gary Warner, sounded off after Sydney was again voted best 2004 city in the world by Conde Nast Traveler, Travel & Leisure.
His response to his readers: "Sydney, Sydney, Sydney. Yawn, yawn, yawn.
"Come on! Anybody have any creativity out there? OK, the Australian metropolis is drop-dead gorgeous and a great place to visit. The people are friendly, the prices are reasonable and the beaches are among the best in the world.



"But this `best city in the world' title year after year after year in the major travel magazines is getting beyond monotonous. It's irritating. It's sending hordes of tourists Down Under in search of some kind of urban Shangri-la. OK, it is, but that's beside the point. Let's rally 'round Rome. Paris. San Francisco. Shanghai. Anywhere but Sydney." Gary is writing in jest, because he says he is returning as soon as he can.
It was the release this week of Lonely Planet's Travellers' Pulse Survey at www.lonelyplanet.com which shows Australia is still the world favourite.
Almost 20,000 respondents from 167 countries hit the survey site and rate Australia the destination they would most like to visit next.
Then come Chile and Brazil – echoing recent trends towards South American destinations – with New Zealand and India rounding out the top five.
Australia also is tops in favourite destinations that travellers have visited, followed by Italy, Thailand, NZ and France.
While travellers from all over the world want to come here, Australians are itching to head to South America, with Peru as the country Aussies most want to visit, followed by Chile, Italy, Brazil and Canada.
Globally, the Lonely Planet vote shows Europe is the world's favourite region, with a 28 per cent vote just shading Asia at 24, then South/Central America at 16 and Australia/Pacific at 15 per cent. This doesn't leave much support for Great Britain, North America or Scandinavia or Africa, although plenty of individuals are looking at the Dark Continent.
In its worldwide survey of more than 20,000 travellers, STA Travel had 10 of its world divisions – Australia/NZ, Austria, Germany, Japan, Nordic, North America, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland and the United Kingdom team up to tap the feelings of regular world travellers.
A quick snapshot of Australia/NZ shows that 59 per cent of them spend between $1400 and $4520 a year on travel; 45 per cent plan to go to Europe this year; and 18 per cent have woken up next to a total stranger while travelling.
It's Singapore-based ZUJI, the Asia/Pacific's high-profile online travel company, which has found the "cruising wish list".
Interesting in that ZUJI is a joint venture between Travelocity, an international leader in online travel and 15 leading Asia/Pacific airlines – All Nippon Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, China Airlines, EVA Airways, Garuda Indonesia, Hong Kong Dragon Airlines, Japan Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Northwest Airlines, Philippine Airlines, Qantas Airways, Royal Brunei Airlines, SilkAir, Singapore Airlines and United Airlines.
The survey hits by Australians showed that if money was no object, more than half would circumnavigate the globe on a luxury cruise; far fewer are interested in seeing whales and icebergs on an Antarctic cruise and under 1 per cent want to cross the Atlantic in style on a London-to-New York cruise.
Perhaps the cruising voters were the "bloomers". That's the name British specialist holiday company Journeys of Distinction has given to those people over 60 who have the time, inclination and the money to travel. There are plenty of them in Australia and they are major players in all sections of tourism, from hiking and biking to coach, rail and air travel, and especially cruising.
A survey by the company asked people whether they were boomers – people with grown-up kids seeking adventurous travel holidays, or bloomers – people aged 60 or more who were retired and whose holiday patterns were determined by destination and accommodation.
The survey had 5000 responses, with 89 per cent describing themselves as bloomers and aged over 61. More than one-third take six or more weeks of holiday a year, spending up to $24,200.
Journeys of Distinction says: "The bloomers market is potentially lucrative and the travel industry should be taking it seriously because it is growing in number and spending power."
But its a survey by coach holiday company AAT Kings which is the last word and shows that even Aussies like Sydney best. The ratings for Australia's favourite city resulted: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Hobart, Adelaide and Darwin.
Compiled by Travel Editor Geoffrey Williams from online survey results submitted and AAP.
VOTED NO. 1
Apart from Sydney, here are the tops of the top around the world, and who votes them so.
Best island: Bali – Travel & Leisure magazine.
Best European island: Mykonos and the Cyclades, Greece – Conde Nast Traveler.
Best destination: Norway's fjords – National Geographic Traveller.
Best hotel in Europe: Four Seasons Milan, Italy – Conde Naste Traveler
Best US hotel: Peninsula Hotel, Beverly Hills – Travel & Leisure and Harper's Hideaway Report.
Best international hotel: Four Seasons George V, Paris – Harper's Hideaway Report.
Best international airline: Singapore Airlines – Travel & Leisure.
Best value for money cruise line: Carnival.
Best megaship: Queen Mary 2 – Porthole Magazine.
Best large ship cruise line: Crystal Cruises – Travel & Leisure.
Best small-ship cruise line: Silversea Cruises – Conde Nast Traveler.