Beach

The second annual Ultratravel 100 Awards was staged successfully with Australia bagging the “Best Holiday Destination” award for the second year running.

This is based on votes made by people based in United Kingdom stating that Australia is definitely one of their top choice holiday destinations. The results overwhelmingly favored the Land Down under.

The voters were made to choose their preferred holiday destinations based on their experience of luxury and other factors such as the quality of services in the cruises, resorts and spas.

There were also awards given to top hotels, travel companies and airlines as well.

The readers of the Ultratravel Magazine were given the chance to make the vote. The journal, part of the widely read The Daily Telegraph, is published quarterly.

The travel magazine has been highly recommended by industry experts for consumers to serve as reference for ideal travel destinations. The magazine usually has a circulation of more than half a million.

The financial crisis did not become an obstacle to most British readers to go on a vacation. According to a survey, they still prefer going to a vacation at least once a year and spend as much money as they did a year ago.

The New South Wales (NSW) state government has reportedly sent an order to parents not to allow their children to attend school for a week if they’ve spent holidays in other countries that were identified to have widespread swine flu incidents. The order takes place as soon as they return to Australia. This precautionary measure has to be made in order to avoid the spread of virus in case the children had contracted it until such time that a vaccine has been made.

This development will certainly make the parents ponder on future holiday plans. The ban will reportedly last until August this year, the time where a vaccine is estimated to become available to the public.

The countries identified to have several cases of swine flu are Mexico, Canada, Panama, Japan, United States, Spain, Britain and other European countries.

Kerry Chant, the Chief Health Officer of the State, said that the implementation of the restriction will be spearheaded by the Department of Education.

The seven-day or one week period is deemed enough to determine if the child has contracted the illness during the holidays.