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Vancouver Island hailed as `best island destination’ in North America

August 29th, 2011 Leave a comment Go to comments

For most Canadians, the phrase “Island destination” evokes a tropical setting, complete with palm trees, steel guitars or drums, and drinks with umbrellas. But a U.S. travel magazine has rated Vancouver Island the best island destination in North America. In fact, Travel and Leisure magazine rates the Island the No. 3 island destination in the world — after Hawaii’s Maui and Kauai and ahead of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef islands and many other better-known islands.

As for Hawaii, one academic in that state, Haunani-Kay Trask, has pleaded with Canadians not to visit, because tourism is ruining the ecology and leaving the native islanders in dead-end jobs.

The New York-based publication’s “World Best Awards 2001″ issue notes that “Canadian friendliness reigns” on Vancouver Island and mentions the “laid-back vibe” of Nanaimo, its second-largest city. It also raves about the “towering mountains, cedar forests, and ocean views,” the sophisticated restaurants, and the great value to Americans, with our dollar trading at about 65 cents U.S.

Some international writers sneer at the “olde tea shoppe” kitsch of the capital — one English journalist referred to the “mock- British tweediness of downtown” — but it’s still charming to the tourists who fuel the economy of Victoria, the island’s largest city.

Take, for example, tea in the Empress Hotel. Millions do.

More than 100,000 visitors a year sit down to afternoon tea, a ritual since the hotel opened in 1908. Cuppas have been served to notables ranging from Queen Elizabeth to Mel Gibson.

Tourism statistics for Victoria show an increase of 5.2 per cent in hotel occupancy over a four-month period this year — largely due to an increase in overnight visits from the U.S.

Travel and Leisure surveyed tens of thousands of readers, then tallied the results using five criteria: natural attractions, activities and sights, restaurants and food, people, and value. Each island was given a score out of 100.

Following Vancouver Island on the list of five North American islands were Nantucket, Outer Banks, North Carolina, Prince Edward Island and San Juan Islands, Washington.

There was no description of P.E.I. beyond the score — 67.8. But the island province outranked Barbados, Galapagos, the Seychelles, Java, and Tahiti, to name a few.

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