La Dolce Vita! Italy Most Popular Vacation Destination

Australia Drops to Second Place for First Time in 11 years
ROCHESTER, N.Y.--(Business Wire)--
For the first time since 1997, there is a new number one vacation
destination outside the United States, according to the latest Harris
Poll of 2,454 U.S. adults conducted online between June 9 and 16, 2008
by Harris Interactive(R). This year, Italy is #1 moving the former top
destination, Australia, to the second spot for the first time. The
next most popular countries are Great Britain (#3), France (#4) and
Ireland (#5) - all of which are unchanged from last year.

TOP COUNTRIES CHOSEN FOR VACATION DESTINATION

"If you could spend a vacation in any country in the world,
outside the United States, and you would not have to worry about the
cost, what one country would you choose?"

Base: All U.S. adults

-0-
*T
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Italy 5 4 4 2 2 3 2 2 2 2 2 1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Australia 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Great
Britain
(England,
Scotland
or Wales) 2 2 2 4 3 2 3 3 3 3 3 3
----------------------------------------------------------------------
France 3 3 5 3 4 6 4 4 5 5 4 4
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ireland 7 6 7 5 6 5 5 5 4 4 5 5
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Greece =11 14 11 =14 =14 =14 10 14 =8 9 10 6
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Japan =13 10 =13 13 10 * 8 =11 =8 11 7 7
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Germany 4 5 3 6 5 7 6 6 6 6 6 8
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Canada 6 7 6 7 9 4 =12 7 7 7 11 9
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Spain * 11 12 11 =12 11 9 9 12 12 9 10
----------------------------------------------------------------------
New Zealand=13 15 =13 =14 =14 13 7 8 11 8 8 11
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Switzerland 9 8 =9 =8 8 8 11 =11 10 13 13 12
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Mexico 8 9 =9 =8 =12 12 =12 10 13 10 12 13
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Bahamas * * * * * * * * 15 14 * 14
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Jamaica =11 12 8 10 7 =9 * 13 14 =15 * 15
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*T

Notes: * Not in top 15; "=" Indicates a tie.

Australia and Italy vie for the top spot among different
demographic groups:

-- Italy is the favorite for Echo Boomers (those aged 18-31) and
Matures (those aged 63 and older) while Australia is number
one for Gen Xers (those aged 32-43) and Baby Boomers (those
aged 44-62);

-- Men and women have different favorites - Australia is number
one for men while Italy is tops for women; and

-- Japan jumps to number three for Echo Boomers while Switzerland
is number five for Matures.

TOP FIVE COUNTRIES - BY AGE AND GENDER

"If you could spend a vacation in any country in the world,
outside the United States, and you would not have to worry about the
cost, what one country would you choose?"

Base: All U.S. adults

-0-
*T
Generation Gender
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Echo Baby
Rank Boomers Gen X Boomers
(18 to (32 to (44 to Matures
31) 43) 62) (63+) Men Women
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Italy Australia Australia Italy Australia Italy
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Great
2 Britain Italy Italy Australia Italy Australia
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Great Great Great Great
3 Japan Britain France Britain Britain Britain
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Great
4 Australia France Britain Ireland Ireland France
----------------------------------------------------------------------
5 France Greece Ireland Switzerland France Greece
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*T

Breaking this down by overall region:

-- Overall, just under half of all adults (48%) would choose a
European country for a foreign vacation if cost was not an
issue. This is the lowest Europe has been since 2002, when
just 46 percent chose a country in this region;

-- One-quarter (24%) would choose a country in Asia or the
Pacific, almost the same as last year (25%);

-- Fifteen percent would go to the Caribbean or the Americas, a
rise from one in ten (11%) who said this last year; and,

-- There is a small number of people (6%) who say they would not
go anywhere outside the United States.

U.S. ADULTS' TOP COUNTRIES CHOSEN FOR VACATION DESTINATION

SUMMARY BY REGIONS OF THE WORLD

"If you could spend a vacation in any country in the world,
outside the United States, and you would not have to worry about the
cost, what one country would you choose?"

Base: All U.S. adults

-0-
*T
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
--------------------------------------------
% % % % % % % % %
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A European country 48 44 46 50 51 50 51 50 48
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A country in the Asia or
Pacific region 24 22 18 25 26 26 26 25 24
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A country in the Americas
or Caribbean 13 17 19 12 13 12 14 11 15
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A country in Africa 3 3 2 2 3 3 3 3 3
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A country in the Middle
East 3 4 1 1 1 1 1 2 1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Other country * * 1 1 * 1 * 1 *
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Wouldn't go anywhere
outside United States 4 7 5 3 4 2 2 6 6
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Not sure/refused 5 3 8 3 1 2 1 2 2
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*T

Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100 percent due to
rounding.

* Less than 0.5 percent.

Methodology

This Harris Poll(R) was conducted online within the United States
between June 9 and 16, 2008 among 2,454 adults. Figures for age, sex,
race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted
where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions
in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust
for respondents' propensity to be online.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability
sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most
often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error,
coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated
with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting
and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words
"margin of error" as they are misleading. All that can be calculated
are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities
for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These
are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this
ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who
have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data
have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population.
Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the
Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error
can be calculated.

These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the
National Council on Public Polls.

J34158

Q855

About Harris Interactive

Harris Interactive is a global leader in custom market research.
With a long and rich history in multimodal research, powered by our
science and technology, we assist clients in achieving business
results. Harris Interactive serves clients globally through our North
American, European and Asian offices and a network of independent
market research firms. For more information, please visit
www.harrisinteractive.com.

Harris Interactive Inc. 7/08

Harris Interactive
Tracey McNerney, 585-214-7756
press@harrisinteractive.net

Copyright Business Wire 2008