Travellers Favour African countries,Ethiopia And Botswana Voted In Second Place

The news that travellers are favouring African countries, with Ethiopia and Botswana voted in joint second place – after New Zealand – as top destinations in the 2016 Wanderlust Magazine Travel Awards is proof that Africa is well on it’s way to offer destinations of choice to adventure hungry travellers.

Ethiopia and Botswana’s inclusion in the Wanderlust list is not that surprising. Last year the landlocked Republic of Botswana made it onto ABTA’s Top Ten Destinations To Watch list? Various reasons can be mentioned, such as the superb wildlife viewing options in the Okavango Delta, rhino conservation programmes and the allure of the Kalahari Desert.

Good storytelling also played a large role. Botswana can thank part of its tourism appeal to the success of Scottish author Alexander McCall Smith who created a fictional sleuth “Mma Precious Ramotswe” in his No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency stories, which he chose to set in Botswana’s capital Gaborone. The books have put Botswana “on the map” so to speak, and the success of his stories has been well documented. Read “A lady detective and a swamp: good story telling spurs tourism“.

This year’s Wanderlust winners were voted for by 2,900 of the publication’s readers, with a total of 168 countries, 618 cities, 440 airports and 484 tour operators being nominated; demonstrating the ‘well-travelled’ status of the magazine’s reach.

New Zealand achieved a satisfaction rating of 97.33% – with Ethiopia and Botswana tying for second with 96.52%. Peru’s Inca allure shone through in third place, with the country very much in the headlines as it awaits the start of its first British Airways direct service this Spring.

“Although New Zealand remains on top, it is particularly interesting to see Ethiopia and Botswana sharing second place; Botswana hasn’t even made the top ten in the last few years,” commented Wanderlust’s founder and editor-in-chief, Lyn Hughes.

Ethiopia, with its rock-hewn churches, rare wolves and mighty mountains proved that 2015’s third-place finish was no fluke.