Top Long Haul Destinations Revealed by Travel Awards

The Maldives was positioned 1st in the list of top ranking long-haul destinations

The Guardian, Observer, and guardian.co.uk Travel Awards has revealed the top five favourite long-haul destinations around the world. As Brits continue to show that holidaying remains a top priority - even in times when recession can cause slumps - the top ranking destination currently attracting the most interest is The Maldives.

Despite the current state of the economy potentially crippling the holiday industry, Brits have in fact showed a changing trend to become more adventurous and explore some of the lesser-travelled regions of the planet. Long-haul flights are still in demand, and with readers of the Guardian, Observer, and guardian.co.uk taking a combined number of 20.8 million annual holidays, tourism continues to boom.

Coming in top position for the favourite far-flung destination is The Maldives, where travellers can to fly into Male and explore the pelagic mass of 1,190 islands. Japan's high-tech cities and its overall uniqueness as a holiday destination have pushed it into second place, and with new flights to Haneda from a number of UK airports now available, this country is now more accessible than ever before.

Meanwhile, the draw of New Zealand's beautiful landscapes, and its popular city of Auckland, have afforded the country a third place position. Peru, home to the iconic Machu Picchu and the culturally rich Quito, landed in fourth.

With South America's popularity remaining high, the fifth most popular long-haul destination was that of Chile, with its capital city Santiago, stunning scenery, hospitable people, and exotic range of environments drawing in plenty of tourism.

Meanwhile, as Brits look to explore the more far-flung destinations available, travelling to the corners of the Earth may not be as unlikely, or indeed as financially unviable, as many might think.

Posted by Cathy, 19 October 2010 14:58

News tags

• Auckland
• Male
• Quito
• Santiago
• Tokyo