TASMANIA has been named the fifth best island in the world by a leading American magazine.
Travel + Leisure magazine also named Tasmania the No. 1 island in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific.
Hobart polled in No. 5 position for cities in the region.
The magazine, the world's highest circulating travel title, included Tasmania in its top 10 list of World's Best Islands.
Tasmania was fifth after Galapagos Islands, Bali, and Hawaii's Maui and Kauai.
Tourism Minister Paula Wriedt said the awards put Tasmania ahead of Bora Bora, the Great Barrier Reef, Tahiti's Moorea, and Fiji.
"This is an incredibly prestigious accolade," Ms Wriedt said.
"The Travel + Leisure award highlights how well Tasmania has been positioned in the international marketplace, particularly in North America."
In the year to March, 2008, nearly 30,000 North Americans visited Tasmania, up 3 per cent on the previous year.
Tasmania recently achieved another Travel + Leisure accolade, with tourism operator Bruny Island Charters featured in the magazine's annual glossy coffee-table book titled 100 Greatest Trips. |