Perth is really living in the limelight right now. Already this year, Australia’s sunniest capital city was named one of the most popular sunset spots on Earth, crowned the home of the very best attraction in Australia, and ranked as the 15th most liveable city on the planet. Now, Perth has another award to hang in its trophy room, with new data revealing WA’s capital was the highest-rated travel destination on the planet in the past year.

It was a surprising result for international travel agency Flight Centre, who surveyed more than 170,000 travellers from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada and the UK over the last financial year. Australia shone brightly, ranking as the third most recommended country to visit globally (behind Portugal and the Cook Islands), with three Aussie cities cracking the top ten.

Perth stole the spotlight as the top-rated city globally, with an impressive 96 per cent satisfaction score. Once solely known for its pristine beaches and sunny weather, Perth’s booming restaurant scene and arts and culture attractions, along with its trendy sister city Fremantle (located just half-an-hour from Perth) have put WA’s capital city on the international radar. 

Chasing at its tail was future Olympic host city Brisbane, which ranked as the second most recommended by travellers, with a 92 per cent satisfaction rating. Queenstown, Tokyo and Christchurch rounded out the top five, with Melbourne ranking eighth and Sydney coming in at 15th place. 

Narrowing in on Australia, travellers from Down Under rated Japan as their top overall country and Queenstown in New Zealand as their favourite city. Meanwhile, Australia’s biggest fans were travellers from the UK and South Africa, who both rated Australia as their number one country for travel over the last year.

Here are the 10 highest-rated countries for travellers this year:

1. Perth
2. Brisbane
3. Queenstown
4. Tokyo
5. Christchurch
6. Rarotonga Island
7. Barcelona
8. Melbourne
9. Rome
10. Vancouver

Here are the 10 highest-rated countries for travellers this year:

1. Portugal
2. Cook Islands
3. Australia
4. Japan
5. Spain
6. Singapore
7. Greece
8. Ireland
9. Turkey
10. Vietnam

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