Oz
rocks!
For the 11th
consecutive year, Australia has bested every other country in the
world as the destination Americans would most like to visit -- if
they didn't have to worry about the cost.
Italy and Great
Britain took the No. 2 and No. 3 spots, respectively, as they have
every year since 2003. Rounding out the top five, France moved up a
notch, trading places with Ireland.
Japan showed the most
movement, breaking into the top by jumping from No. 11 to No. 7,
right behind Germany.
Canada tumbled the
other way, moving from the No. 7 spot to No. 11.
The Bahamas, Jamaica
and Brazil fell off the bottom of the 15-nation list, replaced by
Egypt and China.
These are some of the
results of the annual Harris Poll, an online survey of 2,372 U.S.
adults conducted in June.
According to the
survey data, the appeal of Australia (or the perception that it's
an expensive trip) is strong across several demographic
groups.
The destination
ranked first among men and women, but men preferred Italy as their
No. 2 while women preferred Great Britain.
Australia also led
among all income groups, but Italy beat out Great Britain for
second place among those with incomes above $50,000.
The Land Down Under
was also the top pick among baby boomers (age 43 to 61) and
Gen-Xers (31 to 42). Echo-boomers and matures preferred to travel
to Italy and Great Britain, respectively, but both groups named
Australia as the second choice.
Although Australia
nabbed the top slot, the accompanying charts show that destinations
in Europe dominate the list overall. According to the survey
results, 50% of respondents said they would prefer a vacation in a
European country, followed by the Asia/Pacific region at 25% and
the Americas/Caribbean at 11%.
Harris Interactive
provided no in-depth analysis of the data but observed that three
of the top five countries, Australia, Great Britain and Ireland,
are English-speaking.