An online survey to celebrate Lonely Planet’s 30th anniversary year has voted Thailand as its number one tourist destination.

Over 7,500 respondents from 134 countries participated, from the Arctic to Zimbabwe.

Overall, a third of travellers in the survey nominated Asia as their favourite region, while Europe came a close second with 30 per cent of respondents.

Thailand beat Italy, Australia, New Zealand and India to the top spot in the survey and was also praised for the warm hospitality it extended to travellers. It was a particularly popular location for young backpackers in the 18-34 age bracket, while slightly older tourists preferred India.

The survey also revealed that the respondents had diverse tastes, nominating 183 countries out of a possible 212 while almost half of all the respondents had been to over 16 countries.

From the survey, reasons for believing in the importance of travelling varied enormously. The vast majority believed that does ‘broaden the mind’, while one believed travelling to be ‘fatal to bigotry’.

However, another revealed they travelled for rather idiosyncratic reasons, revolving around a penchant for bullwhips, a fedora and George Lucas at his best – “After all, who wouldn’t want to be Indiana Jones?” Details: www.lonelyplanet.com