MARK McLAUGHLIN
Edinburgh Evening News
4 May 2010
Global travellers' poll rates Capital the best of British
EDINBURGH is the only city in the UK worth visiting according to a new poll of world travellers.
The poll for travel review website TripAdvisor ranked Edinburgh as the 21st most popular travel destination in world.
The city beat off competition from other UK cities such as Brighton, York and London - who polled just behind Edinburgh in the UK table but failed to make the top 25 world destinations.
Edinburgh was also voted the seventh best place for a night out in Europe, and the 17th best European city overall.
The table was compiled from the reviews and opinions of millions of travellers on the TripAdvisor site, and their associated Facebook 'Cities I've Visited' page.
Ron Hewitt, chief executive of the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, said: "We're getting used to coming out top in these surveys to the point where it's becoming a regular feature of Edinburgh life, but I would hate to think it will lead to complacency. It's a continuing reflection of how well our tourism and hospitality sectors are doing at the moment, while other cities are struggling during the recession.
"This is a great encouragement and demonstrates that Edinburgh remains a great place to live and work, as well as visit, and it bodes well for us as we look to rebuild our economy.
"TripAdvisor has a pretty good polling system, based largely on the 'Cities I've Visited' tab on Facebook where users can rate each place on their merits, so I'm confident that this is a very comprehensive poll indeed."
TripAdvisor spokeswoman Emma Boyle said Edinburgh's continuing dominance should serve as "a wake-up call" to other UK cities looking to stake their claim as a destination of choice to international travellers.
She said: "Scotland has so much to offer travellers, from the historic sights of Edinburgh to the shopping in Glasgow. It's encouraging to see smaller destinations such as Islay and Skye have been identified by TripAdvisor travellers too.
"Millions of travellers around the world have spoken and this will serve as a stark wake-up call to London in particular, which failed to make it into the top 25 global or European destination tables.
"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."
It comes on the back of a raft of polls that also placed Edinburgh as one of the best destinations to visit. A YouGov poll conducted last August voted Edinburgh the most desirable city to live in the UK.
Later that month Edinburgh also topped the Travelodge "Bucket List" - places most British people would like to see before they "kick the bucket" - and also revealed the Edinburgh accent to be the "sexiest" in UK.
Meanwhile, a survey carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers last September showed Edinburgh to be the most popular place in Scotland to live and work, and the second favourite across the whole of the UK.
Raising the city's profile
TOP 25 DESTINATIONS IN THE UK (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
9 Islay, Scotland
10 St Ives, Cornwall
11 Cardiff
12 Bath
13 Fort William
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 DESTINATIONS IN THE WORLD
1 Monte-Carlo Monaco
2 Heidelberg Germany
3 Salzburg Austria
4 Florence Italy
5 Lucerne Switzerland
6 Tokyo Japan
7 Venice Italy
8 Siena Italy
9 Rome Italy (pictured right)
10 Hamburg Germany
11 Sydney Australia
12 Amsterdam The Netherlands
13 San Francisco United States
14 Prague Czech Republic
15 Queenstown NewZealand
16 Berlin Germany
17 St. Petersburg Russia
18 Munich Germany
19 Stockholm Sweden
20 Barcelona Spain
21 EDINBURGH UNITEDKINGDOM
22 Copenhagen Denmark
23 Bruges Belgium
24 Victoria Canada
25 CapeTown South Africa
TOP 10 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
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