A new ranking of the best countries in the world was just released, and Canada made the list — if only by the skin of our teeth.
The Condé Nast Traveler Readers' Choice Awards for 2024 recently ranked the top countries in the world based on ratings from travellers, and Canada made the top 20 list, coming in at number 14. Yes, 14th! That's a bit of a snub if you ask us.
The top three countries were Japan, Portugal and Turkey, with Japan scoring a whopping 94.79 out of 100 with voters. Meanwhile, Canada earned a respectable — but still disappointing — 90.85.
Still, it's better than last year, when we didn't even crack the top 20.
The ranking is based on a U.S.-based survey of over 575,000 readers from around the world. They were asked to rate countries on a set of relevant travel criteria using a five-point scale, and the average of these ratings determined each country's final score. While it's great that international travellers appreciate our landscapes and lively cities, it seems we still have some work to do if we want to break into the top 10 next year.
Interestingly, the same ranking by the Condé Nast Traveller U.K. edition, which was based on votes from travellers exclusively from the U.K., placed us slightly higher at number nine, noting that our combination of breathtaking nature and sparkling metropolises makes for a dreamy vacation. So maybe we're just old news to travellers from our neighbours to the south?
Here's the full ranking from the U.S. edition:
- Japan
- Portugal
- Turkey
- Italy
- Spain
- Thailand
- Vietnam
- New Zealand
- Ireland
- Greece
- Croatia
- Norway
- Switzerland
- Canada
- France
- Austria
- India
- Iceland
- Germany
- United Kingdom
For now, we can take comfort in the fact that Canada's still one of the best in the world, even if we didn't make the top 10. Better luck next year, eh?
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