Best holiday destination in Australasia revealed

Queenstown has been named the top destination in Australasia. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Queenstown has been named as the top destination in Australasia and Air New Zealand the best airline in the World Travel Awards.

Travel and tourism professionals around the world have also voted New Zealand the top adventure tourism destination.

SkyCity Auckland was awarded the top casino resort, Annandale in the Marlborough Sounds the leading experiential luxury property, The Residence at The George in Christchurch the leading luxury hotel villa and Eagle's Nest, Australasia's leading villa resort.

The awards were presented in Danang, Vietnam at the weekend.

Air New Zealand chief executive Christopher Luxon said it was the eighth year in a row the airline had topped the list in the awards.

''Being consistently recognised by the industry as leading the way in Australasia is hugely gratifying, but the big challenge now is to get Australian travellers to understand that Air New Zealand is much more than a trans-Tasman carrier,''he said.

The airline has just launched in Australia a mulit-million dollar ''Better Way to Fly'' campaign featuring Dave, a CGI goose who's discovered that Air New Zealand is a better way to fly from Australia to North and South America.

"Australia is an incredibly important market to Air New Zealand and through this campaign work we hope to encourage more Australian travellers to consider Air New Zealand for their next long haul trip to the Americas.''

Other Australasian Awards:
• Leading airport: Brisbane
• Leading hotel: Hotel Windsor, Melbourne
• Most romantic resort: The Remote Resort, Fiji

In other awards Malaysia was named the top Asian destination, Hong Kong has been recognised as Asia's leading city break destination and Hainan Airlines - which is coming to New Zealand - was voted Asia's top airline.