The results revealing Travel + Leisure magazine readers’ favorite hotels, cities, islands, spas, cruise lines, airlines, tour outfitters, and car-rental agencies were announced on 11 July 2005. Winners of the Travel + Leisure World’s Best Awards 2005 will be honoured at a luncheon at the Four Seasons restaurant in New York City on 14 July, 2005, followed by a gala event in New York City.

Of the top ten cities, Sydney has won the award for the eighth time. Chiang Mai, Thailand is new to the top 10. In his commentary on Thailand, Mark Orwoll of Travel + Leisure magazine writes: “It's satisfying to me to see a city like Chiang mai appear on the list because it appeals to that sense of authenticity that travelers are looking for. The history of the city goes back 800 years. You can still see the original moat that encircled the city. The city is the cultural capital of northern Thailand. You can go and visit the hill tribe communities, and the natural beauty is all around. There is great shopping for handmade crafts. And of course, Bangkok, the cultural center of Southern Thailand, also made the top five. One of the reasons Chiang Mai is getting a lot more attention is because there are some really intriguing new hotel developments going on there.

“The tsunami, of course, took place in December and we did our poll in the spring. While certainly there was damage, it wasn't the type of catastrophic damage that would shut down the island. The island had been very popular among the travel circuit and had a great reputation, and this wasn't enough to change that,” Mr Orwoll elaborates.

*Low cost and regional airlines now dominate the list of top domestic airlines. Midwest Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Independence Air, Song, Frontier Airlines, Horizon Airlines are on the list this year and were not included in 1996.

According to Nancy Novogrod, Editor-in-Chief, Travel + Leisure, the opinions and choices of the magazine’s readers frequently reflect the trends reported in the magazine. Since the survey was launched ten years ago, significant shifts in reader taste have been noted. The following examples were cited.