12 August 2004
South Africa stood out as one of the hottest destinations in the 2004 World's Best Awards survey by international travel magazine Travel & Leisure, sweeping the world's best hotels category with five of the 10 highest rated properties in the world.
Other hotels in the country ranked at numbers 13, 46, 49, 50, 61 and 74, giving South Africa more top 100 hotels than any country except the United States.
SA also took the top three tour operator and safari outfitter spots, and weighed in with the fifth highest rated city in the world.
The World's Best Awards survey, now in its ninth year, recognises the favourite hotels, cities, islands, tour operators, airlines, cruise lines and car rental agencies of the readers of the world's largest circulation travel magazine.
The results, according to US-based Travel & Leisure, were based on over 425 000 reader evaluations, making the survey one of the most comprehensive and definitive available.The Singita Private Game Reserve in Sabi Sands on the edge of the Kruger National Park was voted the best hotel in the world - the second time a South African property has won this honour, after Mala Mala Game Reserve in 1997.
Singita took top honours in three categories: world's best hotels, top small hotels, and best hotel in Africa and the Middle East. This is the third international travel poll to crown Singita No. 1 in the world, following similar acclaim from the US's Conde Nast Traveler and the Andrew Harper's Hideaway Report.
Singita's two award-winning lodges, Boulders and Ebony, are situated in a wildlife sanctuary adjacent to Kruger National Park in Mpumalanga province.
Singita also has two exclusive game lodges at Singita Lebombo, a private concession on the remote eastern boundary of Kruger National Park. Singita Lebombo was recently voted hotel of the year in the UK Tatler Travel Awards 2004.
The other four SA hotels in Travel & Leisure's top 10 were Londolozi Private Game Reserve in Mpumalanga (4th), Bushman's Kloof Wilderness Reserve in the Western Cape (5th), Mala Mala Game Reserve in Mpumalanga (7th), and Phinda Private Game Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal (8th).
Three of the top 10 hotels - Londolozi, Pinda and Kichwa Tembo in Kenya (2nd place) - are managed by South Africa-based safari company CC Africa.
Cape Town was voted the best city in Africa and the Middle East and the fifth best city overall for the second year running. Sydney topped the list, followed by Rome, Florence and Bangkok.
South African operators Micato Safaris, Wilderness Safaris and Big Five Tours and Expeditions took the top three places in the list of the world's best tour operators and safari outfitters.
"The World's Best Awards always provide significant insights into where our singularly well-travelled readers are heading, and, even, their attitudes toward the world", said Travel & Leisure editor-in-chief Nancy Novogrod.
Novogrod said the fact that six of the highest rated hotels for 2004 were in Africa reflected "an enormous shift in interest towards that continent".
For all the World's Best winners, along with contact information, images and comparisons with the 2003 winners, visit The World's Best Awards.
Other SA hotels in the top 100
- Cape Grace, Cape Town - 13
- Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve - 46
- Table Bay Hotel, Cape Town - 49
- Grande Roche Hotel, Paarl - 50
- Grace in Rosebank, Johannesburg - 61
- The Plettenberg, Plettenberg Bay - 74
