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Article published 05/02/2024

A press release from Booking.com revealed Scotland as the top country in the UK with the highest number of most welcoming destinations in the nation.

As part of its 12th annual accolade, Booking.com has awarded a record 1.48 million travel partners a Booking.com Traveller Review Award 2024.

These are based on more than 309 million verified customer reviews, and in recognition of delivering consistently excellent service and hospitality over the last year.

As part of the accolades, Perthshire has been named as the top "Most Welcoming Region on Earth".

Auchterarder in Perthshire, Anstruther in Fife, Drymen in Stirlingshire and Nairn in the Highlands have all been recognised for their warm hospitality. They are in the top ten "Most Welcoming Destinations in the UK" in Booking.com's Traveller Review Awards 2024. 

Most welcoming regions on Earth

  1. Perthshire, United Kingdom
  2. Penghu, Taiwan
  3. Boyacá, Colombia
  4. Trentino - Alto Adige, Italy
  5. Los Lagos, Chile
  6. Erongo, Namibia
  7. Otago, New Zealand
  8. Lapland, Finland
  9. Asturias, Spain
  10. Friesland, Netherlands

Top 10 most welcoming UK destinations

  1. Brampton, Norfolk (England)
  1. Auchterarder, Perthshire (Scotland)
  2. Enniskillen, County Fermanagh (Northern Ireland)
  3. Newcastle, Shropshire (England)
  4. Anstruther, Fife (Scotland)
  5. Portstewart, County Londonderry (Northern Ireland)
  6. Drymen, Stirlingshire (Scotland)
  7. Haworth, West Yorkshire (England)
  8. Woolacombe, Devon (England)
  9. Nairn, Highlands (Scotland)

Scottish tourism is renowned for its warm welcome so it’s fantastic to see Perthshire named the most welcoming region in the world, and that four out of ten of the most welcoming UK destinations are also from Scotland. These awards show the high-quality experiences which can be found across our cities, towns, and villages.

This year marks an exciting time for Perthshire, with the opening of two new attractions - Perth Museum and the Scottish Crannog Centre. Even more reasons to visit and experience that famous welcome.

Caroline Warburton, Destination Development Director at VisitScotland

Further information

Most welcoming regions on Earth: Destinations were sorted by the total share of Traveller Review Award 2024 recipients when compared to the total amount of eligible properties in that destination or region (accommodation only).

All types of destinations also had to have an above-average amount of winners to be included on this list (200 award recipients or higher for destinations and regions) and were curated for geographic spread.

Top 10 most welcoming UK destinations: for each of the "most welcoming" categories (destinations and regions), Booking.com looked at the total amount of winners alongside the total amount of eligible properties within a specified destination.

It sorted the results by the corresponding share and applied in all cases a threshold of at least 200 properties in order to remove outliers. The list was then further curated to ensure a varied geographic coverage.

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