15 stunning pictures of the world’s best vacation destination for 2016

The Great Barrier Reef has been named the best vacation destination in the world in a newly released ranking by US News & World Report. The UNESCO World Heritage Site was followed by Paris and Bora Bora as the top three holiday spots in the world. The Great Barrier Reef stretches for more than 2,000km along the Queensland coastline and is visible from space. With annual footfalls of around 1.9 million, there are concerns that climate change and rising water temperatures are having an adverse impact on one of Earth’s most extraordinary ecosystems. (Source: NASA/Wikimedia Commons)

The Great Barrier Reef – which is the world's largest coral reef system — boasts of incredible scenery, both above and underwater, with tourists opting to visit it both by air as well as by boat. (Source: Farbenfrohewunderwelt/Flickr)

There are many diving and snorkelling spots along Queensland's coast, though many prefer to take an excursion to Hamilton Island to escape the crowds. (Source: Toby Hudson/Flickr)

The Great Barrier Reef is one of the world’s seven natural wonders and the world's biggest single structure made by living organisms. (Source: American Queensland at WTS voyage/Flickr)

The Great Barrier Reef includes extensive cross-shelf diversity, stretching from the low water mark along the mainland coast up to 250km offshore. This wide depth range includes vast shallow inshore areas, mid-shelf and outer reefs, and beyond the continental shelf to oceanic waters over 2,000m deep. (Source: American Rugbier/Flickr)

The Great Barrier Reef is a treasure trove of once-in-a-lifetime experiences. (Source: American Kyle Taylor/Flickr)

Diving companies can take tourists to some spectacular spots, but if you're a budget traveller, then venturing solo might be a good idea. (Source: American Rugbier/Flickr)

The reef offers tourists a spectacular chance to indulge in some stunning underwater photography. (Source: American JamesDPhotography/Flickr)

A large part of the reef is protected by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, which helps to limit the impact of human use — such as fishing and tourism. (Source: American Rugbier/Flickr)

The regions of the reef that are particularly popular with tourists are the Whitsunday Islands and Cairns regions. (Source: Russ Garcia/Flickr)

Great Barrier Reef is also home to countless species of colourful fish, molluscs and starfish, turtles, dolphins and sharks. (Source: Tchami/Flickr)

The reef routinely experiences natural pressures such as cyclones, crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks and sudden large influxes of freshwater from extreme weather events. (Source: Toby Hudson/Wikimedia Commons)

Human actions such as tourism, shipping and coastal developments — including ports — also disturbs the reef's fragile ecosystem.

To go back to more eco-friendly practices, the natives of the region — the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island peoples — are undertaking traditional use of marine resource activities to provide traditional food, practising their living maritime culture and to educating younger generations about traditional and cultural rules and protocols. (Source: Eliza Fan/Wikimedia Commons)

On top of it all, the Great Barrier Reef is larger than the Great Wall of China and is the only living thing on earth visible from space. (Source: LCDR Eric Johnson NOAA Corps/Flickr)