LONDON, May 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- TripAdvisor(R), the world's largest travel site*, today unveils the winners of its 2011 Travellers' Choice Destination Awards, honouring the top destinations in the UK, Europe and the world. Unlike any other awards, TripAdvisor's Travellers' Choice awards are based on the experiences of millions of travellers from around the world.

It's good news for London as the capital prepares for the 2012 Olympics - travellers from across the globe have crowned it the UK's best destination. The English capital also placed well in the World and European categories - coming eighth and third respectively - but was nevertheless beaten by European rivals Paris and Rome.

Edinburgh and Bath placed second and third respectively in the UK category, while Cape Town took the top spot overall, followed by Sydney and Peru's Machu Picchu. Paris and Rome were winner and runner up in the European category.

"These awards honour the world's best destinations as decided by those judges that really matter - travellers themselves," commented Emma O'Boyle, TripAdvisor spokesperson. "Tourism is vital to the UK economy so it's encouraging to see London and Edinburgh both highly recognised as Europe's best destinations."

London shines in Olympic lead up

With just 14 months to go, the capital appears on course for a successful London 2012. News of London being voted the UK's number one, Europe's third and the world's eighth best destination according to millions of travellers is sure to be welcomed.

"This is especially meaningful as so much time and effort has gone into preparing the city for London 2012 and hopefully we'll sneak ahead of Paris and Rome before the games kick off," continued TripAdvisor's Emma O'Boyle.

Top marks for Cape Town

South Africa's tourism hot spot, Cape Town, has won the accolade of world's best destination, followed by Sydney and Machu Picchu in Peru.

"Cape Town is clearly the destination to beat," commented Emma O'Boyle, TripAdvisor spokesperson. "With beautiful scenery, great wine and gorgeous weather, it's easy to see why Cape Town, which also played host to last year's World Cup, has topped this year's list."

    
    The UK's top 25          Europe's top 10     World's top 10
 
    1.  London               1.  Paris           1.  Cape Town, South Africa
    2.  Edinburgh            2.  Rome            2.  Sydney, Australia
    3.  Bath                 3.  London          3.  Machu Picchu, Peru
    4.  Cambridge            4.  Barcelona       4.  Paris, France
    5.  Oxford               5.  Prague          5.  Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
    6.  Stratford-upon-Avon  6.  Venice          6.  New York City, USA
    7.  York                 7.  St. Petersburg  7.  Rome, Italy
    8.  Inverness            8.  Florence        8.  London, UK
    9.  St. Andrews          9.  Edinburgh       9.  Barcelona, Spain
    10. Liverpool            10. Istanbul        10. Hong Kong
    11. Glasgow
    12. Brighton
    13. Belfast
    14. Canterbury
    15. Manchester
    16. St Ives
    17. Cardiff
    18. Windermere
    19. Newcastle upon Tyne
    20. Aberdeen
    21. Windsor
    22. Bournemouth
    23. Salisbury
    24. Chester
    25. Oban

For the complete 2011 Travellers' Choice Destinations list, go to: http://www.tripadvisor.uk/TCDestinations (please note this link will not be live until Tuesday 2nd May)

Notes to Editors

TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice Destination award winners were determined based on travellers' favourite and most visited destinations, as pinned on travel maps found on TripAdvisor and on TripAdvisor's Facebook app "Cities I've Visited".

About TripAdvisor

TripAdvisor(R) is the world's largest travel site, enabling travellers to plan and have the perfect trip. TripAdvisor offers trusted advice from real travellers and a wide variety of travel choices and planning features (including Flights search, TripAdvisor Mobile and TripAdvisor Trip Friends) with seamless links to booking tools.

TripAdvisor(R) Media Group, operated by TripAdvisor LLC, attracts more than 50 million unique monthly visitors* across 18 popular travel brands**. TripAdvisor-branded sites make up the largest travel community in the world, with more than 40 million unique monthly visitors***, 20 million members, and over 45 million reviews and opinions. The sites operate in 29 countries worldwide****, including China under daodao.com. TripAdvisor also operates TripAdvisor for Business, a dedicated division that provides the tourism industry access to TripAdvisor's millions of monthly visitors. The division includes Business Listings, which allows hoteliers to connect directly to millions of researching travellers, and Vacation Rentals, which helps property managers and individual home owners list their properties and showcase hotel alternatives.

TripAdvisor Media Group websites have been recognized as top travel resources in 2010 by Conde Nast Traveller, Good Housekeeping, TIME magazine and Travel + Leisure.

TripAdvisor Media Group generated $486 million in revenue in 2010. TripAdvisor and the sites comprising the TripAdvisor Media Group are operating companies of Expedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE).

TripAdvisor, Travellers' Choice and the TripAdvisor logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of TripAdvisor LLC in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other logos or product and company names mentioned herein may be the property of their respective owners.

(c)2011 TripAdvisor LLC. All rights reserved.

*Source: comScore Media Metrix for TripAdvisor Media Group Sites, Worldwide, August 2010

** In addition to TripAdvisor, The TripAdvisor Media Group of websites includes:

http://www.airfarewatchdog.com, http://www.bookingbuddy.com, http://www.cruisecritic.com, www.everytrail.com, http://www.familyvacationcritic.com, http://www.flipkey.com, http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk, http://www.holidaywatchdog.com, http://www.independenttraveler.com, http://www.onetime.com, http://www.seatguru.com, http://www.sniqueaway.com, http://www.smartertravel.com, http://www.travel-library.com, http://www.travelpod.com, http://www.virtualtourist.com and http://www.kuxun.cn.

***Source: comScore Media Metrix for TripAdvisor Sites, Worldwide, August 2010

**** TripAdvisor sites operate in 29 countries worldwide: http://www.tripadvisor.com, http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk,

http://www.tripadvisor.ca, http://www.tripadvisor.it, http://www.tripadvisor.es, http://www.tripadvisor.de, http://www.tripadvisor.fr, http://www.tripadvisor.jp, http://www.daodao.com, http://www.tripadvisor.in, http://www.tripadvisor.se, http://www.tripadvisor.nl, http://www.tripadvisor.com.br, http://www.tripadvisor.com.tr, http://www.tripadvisor.dk, http://www.tripadvisor.com.mx, http://www.tripadvisor.ie, http://www.tripadvisor.com.au, http://www.tripadvisor.com.sg, http://www.tripadvisor.co.kr, no.tripadvisor.com, pl.tripadvisor.com, th.tripadvisor.com, http://www.tripadvisor.ru, http://www.tripadvisor.com.gr, http://www.tripadvisor.co.id, http://www.tripadvisor.com.ar, http://www.tripadvisor.tw and http://www.tripadvisor.com.my.

SOURCE TripAdvisor