More than 20,000 readers have voted in the annual Telegraph travel poll across a range of categories, including best country. New Zealand has secured the top spot.
The Telegraph’s editors wrote: “And so the world settled back onto its axis, and the baffled expressions were wiped away. New Zealand’s rank in this list has generally been a binary sequence – a repetition of the number one that had gone uninterrupted for more than a decade until the 2023 results sparked a sudden drop to… second.”
The pandemic is blamed for the ‘slide’ thanks to being “closed off from the rest of the planet until well into 2022”.
“Now that a relative normality has resurfaced, New Zealand is – to borrow a football expression – back on its perch. Will you, The Telegraph readers ever tire of it – of the fjords cut into the west flank of the South Island; of the vineyards that flutter around Marlborough; of Aoraki/Mount Cook in its snowy might; of the dining scenes in Auckland and Wellington? You might. But then, you probably won’t.”
The Telegraph has published ‘10 reasons why New Zealand is the best country on Earth’, which includes the Great Walks, the cycling trails, Māori and Polynesian culture and the dark sky sanctuaries.
“Yet while other countries have become less welcoming and more violent, too hot or, or too polluted, New Zealand has simply continued to offer a safe and friendly welcome to visitors.”
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