India is No-1 travel destination: Report

LONDON: India has officially beenvoted the world's favourite country to visit by readers of the swish magazineThe awards are given annually for the hotels, airlines, islands,tour operators, spas, cruise lines, cities and countries ranked 'best in theworld' by the magazine's readers. Though the awards are hardlydefinitive, the winner in each category is seen to gain considerable cachet asthe choice of the big-spender classes. This year the magazine'sreaders rated India as best in the world for culture, value for money and thesheer scale and variety of its attractions. Sarah Miller, themagazine's editor said it was an undoubted coup for India to "achieve theaccolade of our discerning readers' favourite country in the world." She addedthat the vote, coming "asit celebrates 60 years of independence...shows India's moment has come."Last year's winner, Italy, was ranked number two and Thailand, whichattracts more Western tourists than anywhere else in the world, was at numberthree.