COLOMBO – Sri Lanka has been named the best country in the world to visit this year, after Italy by readers of Conde Nast Traveller, a US based travel publication, which also named SriLankan Airlines among the top airlines to fly.
Sri Lanka scored 93.96 points, slightly behind Italy which had 94.05 points, but beat Portugal, Japan and Greece which made it to the top 5.
Sri Lanka was also in the top 5 best countries to visit in the 2019 list.
SriLankan Airlines was named the sixth best airline in the world by Conde Nast Traveller, which noted that airline had built a strong following among fliers who appreciate its comfy business class seats, attentive cabin crew and flavourful in-flight meals.
“It’s a top choice for travellers headed not only to the island nation it calls home, but to destinations in the region like the Maldives, where it’s the largest foreign airline.
“With a fleet of 26 planes, it’s not huge, but more passengers are discovering it, thanks to its membership in the Oneworld alliance,” Conde Nast Traveller noted.
Sri Lanka is currently closed for tourists but authorities have been talking about setting up travel bubbles. However, outbound flights were kept open at the height of the crisis in March and April 2020, when many airports also shut down. Both SriLankan Airlines and Qatar flew regularly ferrying out passengers and was one of the last airlines to remain on air. It then operated rescue flights for both SriLankans and foreign nationals.
The Conde Nast annual Readers’ Choice Awards are the biggest and most influential in the business, shining a light on the readers’ favourite places around the world. Hundreds of thousands of Conde Nast readers vote for the best countries to visit, the best places to stay and airlines to fly in the annual choice awards.
The Best 20 Countries in the World 2020 – the scores are percentages representing overall average levels of satisfaction.
- Italy – 94.05
- Sri Lanka – 93.96
- Portugal- 93.39
- Japan – 93.35
- Greece – 93.32
- Indonesia – 92.98
- Thailand – 92.62
- South Africa – 92.20
- Vietnam – 92.12
- Mexico – 91.93
- Ireland – 91.50
- Bhutan – 91.11
- Jamaica – 91.04
- Peru – Score 90.88
- Malaysia – 90.86
- Colombia – 90.84
- Israel – 90.71
- Turkey – 90.57
- New Zealand – 90.53
- India – 90.29
-ENCL/economynext.com