India tops list of favoured travel destinations

India has emerged as the numero uno travel destination, trailed by Italy, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand. India’s emergence at the top spot, over the fourth last year, was revealed by a survey conducted by widely-read British magazine Conde Nast Traveller, which gives away the Reader’s Travel Awards, considered the Oscars of the tourism industry. “India was the 10th most preferred destination in 2004, the fourth in 2006 and is now at the top in 2007 and that is where we want to be,” Union Tourism Minister Ambika Soni said while receiving the award at a ceremony in London on Monday night. Conducted among the readers of the magazine that include some of the most sophisticated and avid travellers across the world, the survey included a range of criteria for each category from “range of accommodation” to “environmental friendliness”, the magazine said in a release.