[Kayacterype]

July 10, 2008 - 10:23AM

www.theage.com.au

Australia has again been rated a tourist hotspot by US travellers, with Sydney voted fourth best city in the world in a new magazine survey.

US travel magazine Travel + Leisure released the results of its World's Best Awards today, with Bangkok taking out the top spot on the World's Best City list.

Buenos Aires and Cape Town were voted second and third, while Sydney came in fourth after being ranked fifth last year.

This year, fifth place went to Florence.


Sydney was also named the best city in the awards for the Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific region, followed by Melbourne, New Zealand's Queenstown, Perth and Hobart.

Tasmania made the World's Best Island category, finishing fifth on a list topped by the Galapagos Islands.

Singapore Airlines was voted number one, followed by Emirates, Thai Airways and Cathay Pacific.

TOP 10 CITIES OVERALL:
1 Bangkok, Thailand 87.61
2 Buenos Aires, Argentina 87.24
3 Cape Town, South Africa 86.59
4 Sydney, Australia 86.49
5 Florence, Italy 86.24
6 Cuzco, Peru 86.15
7 Rome, Italy 85.12
8 New York, US 85.03
9 Istanbul, Turkey 84.61
10 San Francisco, US 84.42

TOP 5 AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND AND THE SOUTH PACIFIC:
1 Sydney 86.49
2 Melbourne 80.35
3 Queenstown. New Zealand 79.95
4 Perth 77.78
5 Hobart 77.38

TOP 10 ASIA:
1 Bangkok, Thailand 87.61
2 Kyoto, Japan 84.27
3 Chiang Mai, Thailand 84.14
4 Hong Kong 83.69
5 Udaipur, India 83.51
6 Shanghai, China 81.83
7 Siem Reap, Cambodia 81.15
8 Beijing, China 81.05
9 Hanoi, Vietnam 80.87
10 Jaipur, India 80.78