TripAdvisor®, the world’s largest travel site, announced the winners of its 2011 Travelers’ Choice® Destinations awards this week.  In its third year of the awards, TripAdvisor has honoured 337 outstanding destinations across the globe. In addition to the top 25 in the world overall, top 25 lists have been named for the United States, Europe, the Caribbean & Mexico, Central & South America, Asia, India, South Pacific, Canada, Africa, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany and Spain.

Travelers’ Choice Destinations awards honour top travel spots worldwide based on millions of real and unbiased opinions from TripAdvisor travelers.  Award winners were determined based on a combination of travelers’ favourite places and overall destination popularity.

“Millions of TripAdvisor travelers around the globe have helped identify the world’s top travel spots,” said Barbara Messing, chief marketing officer for TripAdvisor. “The Travelers’ Choice Destinations awards not only recognise some of the most beloved travel destinations worldwide, but serve as inspiration for millions of travelers looking to plan their next trip.”

2011 Travelers’ Choice World Destinations:

1. Cape Town, South Africa
2. Sydney, Australia
3. Machu Picchu, Peru
4. Paris, France
5. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
6. New York City, United States
7. Rome, Italy
8. London, United Kingdom
9. Barcelona, Spain
10. Hong Kong, China

For the complete 2011 Travelers’ Choice Destinations lists, sponsored by Audi, go to www.tripadvisor.com/TCDestinations.

Photo: Cape Town. Photographer: PRNewsFoto/TripAdvisor

“This year is going to be very difficult as we’ve already seen from the 20-percent fall in industry sales during the first four months of the year, which was the low season,” Barceló said at an economic conference in the Spanish capital.

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