If you’re looking at the frost and daydreaming of a beach idyll, then the Turks and Caicos islands might just be the hot ticket right now.
The lesser-known Caribbean hideaway was yesterday voted the globe’s leading beach destination at the World Travel Awards (WTA), dubbed the Oscars of the travel industry.
Characterised by blue skies, turquoise seas and endless white sands, the average temperature of 27-29 C from November to May makes it a popular winter sun destination.
Grace Bay Beach, on the island of Providenciales, the main tourist hub of the region, had already been named the Caribbean’s leading beach destination in the WTA’s regional heats in September.
At that ceremony, Dr Hubert Fulford, chairman of the Turks and Caicos islands tourist board, said:
‘We are a destination that is not totally crowded. There is a freedom that we exude. There is a love and an expression of happiness and friendship that comes from our people.’
The islands completed their world domination at the WTA’s grand final in New Delhi, India, last night, beating off stiff competition from Cancun, Mexico, Cape Town in South Africa, Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana, in Brazil, and even the Maldives.
Ralph Higgs, director of tourism for the islands, expressed his ‘delight’. He commented: ‘This is further testament to what we here in the Turks and Caicos have known all along, and the world is beginning to find out.
Read more: Sebastian Lander, Mail
