Holidaying in Middle Earth

New Zealand, the other land down under brought centre-stage by the phenomenal success of the "Lord of the Rings" movies, is the best place in the world to take a holiday.

That's according to readers of Conde Nast Traveller magazine, who have been voting in the publication's annual Readers' Travel Awards.

The results, announced last week, put New Zealand at the top for the first time, followed by Thailand and Australia.

Italy was the top European destination, in fourth place, and the USA came seventh ? with New York topping the city category.

The rankings were based on "percentages for satisfaction" across a variety of criteria.

New Zealand achieved an amazing 97.33 per cent satisfaction rating, scoring the maximum of 99 for scenery, 98.7 for environmental friendliness, and 97 for safety.

The country's tourism minister Mark Burton commented on the accolade: " The result is gratifying not just because of the win, but because the readers who voted for us are the sorts of people we are trying to attract to New Zealand.

"This is further evidence of the benefits of the strong and positive working relationship between the government and the wider sector in building New Zealand`s reputation as a high quality visitor destination."

Tourism NZ chief George Hickton was jubilant.

"New Zealand has been hot in the UK market for several years. More recently we have been bumped from top position by other countries such as Chile and Namibia (but) we have been working very hard to stay ahead of the game", he told the Dominion Post.

Tourism to New Zealand has boomed in recent years, thanks in no small way to the attention grabbed by the multi-Oscar-winning "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, directed by Pukerua Bay native Peter Jackson and largely crewed by kiwis.

308,000 Britons visited New Zealand in 2004; an increase of 10 per cent on the previous year. Tourism has long since replaced sheep as the country's top export earner.

But it is not all good news for New Zealand. Being so remote, travel costs are strongly dependent on the volatile oil price.

High fuel costs and the strength of the NZ dollar have lead some economists and tourism chiefs to warn of a 5 per cent decline in the industry's earnings next year.

The USA topped the poll for the quality and variety of attractions, Italy beat France by a whisker as the home of the best food, South Africa was recognised as having the best range of accommodation, and Sri Lanka came out on top for value for money.

London was picked as the best UK city, knocking Edinburgh off the top spot.

Worse still for Edinburgh, the Scottish capital was pushed down to third place by west coast rival, Glasgow.

Editor Sarah Miller congratulated Glasgow on its new-found chic: "It is a very handsome city with some of the most exciting and stylish venues in the UK. It scored exceptionally highly for food as well as its culture and the friendliness of the people. Everyone should visit this dynamic city."

Voters chose Newcastle as Britain's friendliest city, Cambridge as its cleanest, Cardiff as its most user-friendly, and Leeds as representing the best value.