India 6th in top 10 tourist destinations

India's appeal as a popular tourist destination has received a resounding boost. The Conde Nast Traveller UK has announced that India ranks sixth among the top ten destinations in its Annual Readers' Travel Awards 2004. India's ranking moved up three slots from number nine last year.

India had two other entries in the Top 100. Rajvilas Jaipur has been ranked No. 3 in the Overseas Leisure Hotels category for Asia, while Taj Exotica Resort & Spa, Maldives, ranked No. 3 in that category for the Africa, Indian Ocean & Middle East region.

Speaking about the significant jump in India's ranking, Sarah Miller, Editor, Conde Nast Traveller UK, said, "It is great that India is on the up. It's such an amazing continent with so many diverse and appealing reasons to visit that its high score does not surprise me at all. We have featured it quite a lot recently and our readers certainly enjoy visiting -- they tell us so. Here's to India's great success."

Commenting on India's ranking, Renuka Choudhary, Minister for Tourism, said, "India is an incredible destination with a myriad experiences. The world is rediscovering India."

Uma Pillai, secretary tourism, said, "It is a great honour for India to be one of the top destinations of the world."

Joint Secretary Tourism, Amitabh Kant, said, "The positioning and branding of the destination as Incredible India has paid rich dividends. The campaign has appealed to the traveller's mind."

Kate Lowe, Publisher, Conde Nast Traveller UK, added, "India's leap up to 6th place in the Conde Nast Traveller 2004 Readers' Awards league table of the best countries to visit is a deserved reward for the enthusiasm and hard work of the Tourism Board, which has refined the raw diamond into the sparkling jewel it is today."

"Conde Nast Traveller readers appreciate the diversity of the culture India has to offer, its superlative hotels and resorts and the hospitality of its people. India was also singled out this year as being good value for money. All in all, a country we shall all be watching out for in 2005 and beyond," she said.

Mediascope Publicitas represents Conde Nast Traveler UK in India.

The Conde Nast Traveller Readers' Travel Awards, now in their seventh year, have earned a reputation for being the most prestigious in Britain, since they are based on the readers' nominations based on a list of criteria.

Unlike other publications, Conde Nast Traveller does not provide a shortlist of potential winners. Earlier this year, the magazine received some 30,000 nominations both on- and offline.

The rankings in these awards are an index of satisfaction with travel facilities and services, scored out of a maximum of 100. In the Readers' Travel Awards questionnaire, readers were asked to choose the best that the travel world has to offer -- everything from hotels and spas to airlines and airports.

They were then asked to rate their choices according to various criteria, such as service and value for money. From these responses, the average mark on each criterion was calculated and used to provide the overall satisfaction percentage figure that is in the league tables and The World's Top 100.

In the May issue, readers were asked for nominations for the world's best hotels, spas, islands, airlines, cities, airports, countries, cruise lines and tour operators, and then asked to rate them according to a list of criteria. To discern their list of the best of the best, each nomination was ranked to produce the world's Top 100. An independent market research company collates each reader's nominations.