Poll finds Malta second least favourite for British tourists

Malta has retained its placing as the second least favourite holiday destination for Britons, according to 26,000 newspaper readers surveyed by the Telegraph.

Ibiza headed the list, and Malta was followed by Belgium, the Canaries and Tunisia, in the biggest annual poll of the British travelling public. Ibiza had ranked fifth in last year's poll, when Malta's position was also number two.

The findings are based on the results of a survey sent to more than 26,000 readers of The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph, who were asked to reflect on the highs and lows of their holidays over the past two years.

The respondents - in the middle and upper-middle classes - had, in the past year, been on at least two foreign holidays costing more than £500.

The poll, run by the market research company NOP World, reflects the readers' experience.

Telegraph readers voted for Emirates Airline, the Savoy, Barcelona and Italy in the Telegraph Travel Awards, based on the results of the poll.

The awards, which were presented last week in London, have entered their sixth year, becoming established as the most prestigious in the trade - sought after by tour operators, airlines and tourist boards, and acknowledged by travellers as the most reliable indicator of excellence.

Though France was the most visited destination among Telegraph readers - 53 per cent of respondents had been there in the past two years - France failed to feature in the 10 most liked countries.

Some favourites have fallen, but others such as Italy promise to go on and on. Italy retained the award for Favourite Holiday Destination for the fourth consecutive year.

The survey also shows that there is little that would put Telegraph readers off travelling. That was the message delivered in the 2003 Telegraph/NOP travel survey.

A resounding 89 per cent said they had not changed their travel plans because of the Iraq war, or a threat of terrorism.

Meanwhile, the popularity of the traditional package holiday continued to decline, according to the survey. Just 17 per cent said they "frequently" went on package holidays.

Britons accounted for 40 per cent of tourist arrivals in Malta in the January to July period this year (258,073 out of a total of 642,878), compared with 38 per cent in the same period last year, according to figures of the National Statistics Office.