Australia among hottest destinations for 2016

Australia has proved it’s still got the goods, ranking sixth on Lonely Planet’s Top 10 Countries list.

Now in its 11^th year, the Lonely Planet’s Best In Travel 2016 book compiles the best trends, destinations, journeys and experiences for the upcoming year, and making the cut marks a huge opportunity for Aussie marketing.

“Australia’s challenge has never been getting onto people’s travel wish lists, but more around translating our destination’s strong appeal into more actual visits,” Tourism Australia’s managing director John O’Sullivan said.

“A key focus of our marketing this year has been around the promotion of our Indigenous tourism story, so it’s really pleasing to see this called out as one of our unique selling points and competitive strengths.”

Lonely Planet was also a big fan of Australia’s value for money, and with the shaky Aussie dollar travel down under is booming.

Some 6.9 million international visitors travelled to Australia in 2014, up 7.6% from 2013 figures, and marketing plugs like Restaurant Australia have helped bring the numbers up.

“I think we’ve shown with Restaurant Australia, that if you identity an opportunity and really go hard, you can deliver impressive results,” O’Sullivan said.

“As acknowledged by the Lonely Planet team, there’s probably never been a better time to visit Australia, with international visitors from most of our key markets benefitting by having more tourism dollars in their pockets to spend when they get here.”

O’Sullivan added it was the icing on the cake to also see a number of Aussie hot spots continue the trend of being in the top 10, including Tasmania listed in the Top 10 Regions for 2015 and Adelaide making the Top 10 Cities list for 2014.

Australia also featured in 10 other Best in Travel 2016 lists, including Western Australia (#10, Best Value Destinations) and Melbourne (#4, Most Accessible Destinations).

Western Australian port city Fremantle was also recognised as one of the world’s top 10 cities to visit next year.

Ranked seventh on the list of cities, Fremantle is described as a “raffish harbour town with sea-salty soul to burn”.

“Fremantle thrums with live-music rooms, hipster bars, boutique hotels, left-field bookshops, craft-beer breweries, Indian Ocean seafood shacks, buskers, beaches and students on the run from the books,” Lonely Planet says.

The travel guide noted Fremantle hosted the America’s Cup yacht race in 1987 and then reinvented itself with investment in the arts, the establishment of Notre Dame University and the consolidation of the city’s waterfront at the fore.

“In 2016, Freo is bearing the fruits of this process, with thriving urban culture and a string of awesome arts events celebrating the city’s essence,” Lonely Planet said.

LONELY PLANET’S TOP 10 CITIES FOR 2016:

1. Kotor, Montenegro

2. Quito, Ecuador

3. Dublin, Ireland

4. George Town, Malaysia

5. Rotterdam, the Netherlands

6. Mumbai, India

7. Fremantle, Australia

8. Manchester, UK

9. Nashville, USA

10. Rome, Italy

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Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

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