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Egypt, Kenya and Tanzania emerge as top eco destinations
The leading eco destinations in the world have been named as Egypt, Kenya and Tanzania.
The three countries came out top of a poll conducted by online travel agent responsibletravel.com based on 60,000 booking enquiries over the last year.
Improving their positions in the top 20 eco destination are India, Peru, Morocco and Ecuador, while dropping down the table are South Africa, Nepal, Thailand, China and Vietnam.
Appearing in the list are the mass-market destinations of Greece (20th), Cyprus (19th) and Spain.
The company said: “Determined to shake off its down market package holiday image, Spain is offering an increasing range of special interest holidays and successful inland holiday options.”
Thailand was the biggest loser, down from 4th last year to 12th, as the country was “clearly suffering more from the tsunami than Sri Lanka”, according to responsibletravel.com. However, the firm expects Thailand to bounce back strongly.
The success of Kenya and Tanzania was down to both becoming the first countries “to understand the importance of tourism for wildlife conservation and poverty reduction”, while Egypt’s growth has been fuelled by adventure holidays and family adventures, often featuring local guides and home-stays as a point of difference.
India’s growth was due to the popularity of Kerala as an eco destination, while increasing interest in the Galapagos Islands “contributed significantly” to Ecuador’s improved position.
Scotland was described as the biggest surprise in the poll, along with the omission of both the US and Australia.
Scotland’s success came about due to its Green tourism business accreditation scheme for accommodation and the Wold Scotland programme of small-scale wildlife enterprises
The top eco destinations for 2004-05 are (2003-04 positions in brackets):
1) Egypt (1)
2) Kenya (2)
3) Tanzania (3)
4) India (11)
5) Peru (6)
6) Morocco (10)
7) Ecuador (10)
8) South Africa (5)
9) Scotland (9)
10) Nepal (7)
11) Italy (13)
12) Thailand (4)
13) China (12)
14) Sri Lanka (-)
15) Vietnam (17)
16) Costa Rica (25)
17) Turkey (16)
18) Spain (31)
19) Cyprus (27)
20) Greece (26)
Report by Phil Davies
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