New Zealand wins another travel award

New Zealand has once again been given the seal of approval by British travellers as it was voted the best non-European country in this year's Telegraph Travel Awards.

The country has already received two accolades at the Responsible Tourism Awards this year and also picked up the top long-haul destination gong in the Guardian Travel Awards.

Tourism New Zealand chief executive George Hickton said: "We never take these awards for granted and the New Zealand tourism industry is always looking for ways to improve people's time in New Zealand to send them away with great stories to tell their friends and family."

Australia was the runner-up in the 'best non-European country' category of the Telegraph Travel Awards, followed by South Africa.

Italy was voted the most popular country in Europe, followed by Greece and Portugal, while Cape Town, San Francisco and Sydney were named the three leading international cities.

Singapore Airlines took the top accolade in the 'best scheduled airline' category, ahead of Virgin Atlantic and Emirates.

More than 25,000 Telegraph readers were polled for the awards, in a survey which also found that 92 per cent of respondents do not think the credit crunch will affect their holiday plans.

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