Honiara, Solomon Islands - Its official. The Solomon Islands has been named the number one ‘Hottest travel destination for 2016’ in Australia.

The ‘Hapi Islands’ beat off 20 other destinations to take the premier spot in the high profile News Limited ‘Escape’ travel section published this week.

Distributed nationally, ‘Escape’ is read by literally millions of Australians every weekend.

Adding weight to the number one nomination, Carnival Cruise Line Australia CEO, Ann Sherry was quoted in the article as saying she believed the Solomon Islands “will win the hearts of travellers next year.”

Ms Sherry went on to say that the Solomon islands was off the beaten track so there was a great sense of adventure involved in travelling there, adding the destination was not as remote or inaccessible as people may think.

Carnival Cruise Line Australia will operate several cruises into the Solomon Islands as part of its 2016 South Pacific cruise program.

This is the second time in less than a year the Solomon Islands has earned strong recognition in the Australian travel media.

Writing for the high profile Sydney Morning Herald, travel writer Tatyana Leonov named the country as one of the “friendliest for tourists” on the planet.

In her article Ms Leonov described the Solomon Islands as one of the few countries that really stands out because of the generosity and warmth of the people.

Ms Leonov visited the destination as a guest of the Solomon Islands Visitors Bureau’s International Media Visitation Program which in 2015 with support from Solomon Airlines has hosted more than 20 travel writers.