New York was so good they had to award it twice

NEW YORK for a holiday, Paris for a weekend away and Galway for a home break – that’s the verdict of Irish holidaymakers on their…

NEW YORK for a holiday, Paris for a weekend away and Galway for a home break – that’s the verdict of Irish holidaymakers on their favourite destinations, as revealed at the inaugural Irish Consumer Travel Awards.

Thousands of consumers who voted also picked the Eiffel Tower as their favourite visitor attraction and the Cliffs of Moher as their favourite attraction in Ireland.

New York was considered so good it won two awards, for best US destination and best destination worldwide. Voters also plumped for Spain for sun holidays and Austria for its skiing.

Karen Creed, author of a travel guide aimed at dog owners, won the best travel journalist print category and Fionn Davenport of Newstalk FM won the radio category. The television category went to Kathryn Thomas, presenter of No Frontiers and presenter also of the show at which the awards were presented in the RDS on Tuesday evening.The main sponsors of the awards were Abroadmagazine, ebookers.ie and The Irish Timestravel supplement, GO.

Paul Cullen

Paul Cullen

Paul Cullen is a former heath editor of The Irish Times.