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This article was published 24/5/2017 (1213 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

American travel information website 10 Best has turned its gaze north and put some Manitoba features in its readers' choice awards spotlight.

The Canadian Museum for Human Rights has been nominated by the USA Today-related site for the top visitor attraction in Canada, the city of Winnipeg made the cut as a top Canadian destination, Riding Mountain National Park appears in the parks voting poll, the Parks Route from Cartwright to Roblin is up for the most scenic drive award, and Lake Winnipeg and Whiteshell Provincial Park are vying to be named the best cottage area.

CMHR marketing and communications manager Louise Waldman says the three-year-old museum was pleasantly surprised to be included on the list of top 20 attractions, which also features polar bear-viewing tours of Churchill, as it was unaware the USA Today brand was putting a focus on Canada.

"We got an email — and you get a lot of emails from different groups around awards things and there is always a bit of nervousness: is this just an opportunity to sell ad space? — but this one was selected by Canadian travel writers and Canadian social media influencers," she said Wednesday. "We found out about it when they put out the list, which was pretty exciting."

The five Canadian-focused polls were compiled by a panel of six Canadian writers (none of the six are Manitoba-based) for 10 Best (www.10best.com), which operates under U.S. media giant Gannett Company's Travel Media Group banner. According to its website, the group's sites rank among the top 10 most-visited travel information sites in North America, as measured by analytics company comScore.

Visitors to the website are allowed one vote per contest per day, with the five Canadian feature polls closing June 23.

While the CMHR winds up on a lot of Internet lists, Waldman said, this one is more than a case of any publicity is good publicity.

"Anything that gets the U.S. travel consumer to look beyond what one travel writer described to me as 'MTV' — Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver — anything that gets them to look beyond that is fantastic," she said. "So to be profiled as one of (the top 20) is huge for us, not only as a museum but also for the city and the province.

"(On the 10 Best website), it says 'vote or explore.' Even if you are voting for something else, the ability to drive this U.S. traveller to learn a little more about the museum... you can buy that kind of publicity, but it costs a lot of money."

Should the museum come out on top when the online poll closes, it will have drawn more votes than the polar bears of Churchill. But the two attractions are just the tip of the iceberg for what Manitoba has to offer visitors, Waldman said.

"We would want all U.S. visitors to experience both of those things.... We often see people who are staying an extra night (in Winnipeg prior to or after a Churchill trip), which is fantastic," she said.

"I'm a Winnipegger, a replant; I left and came back, and this city has changed for the better," she said. "If you look at the track record of success over the last couple years, the kinds of international coverage we're seeing... the city has really turned a corner. I'm excited to be a part of it and I think Winnipeggers should be excited, too."

CMHR leads the way

Leaderboards for USA Today 10 Best 2017 readers' choice voting (as of noon Wednesday):

Best attraction in Canada

1. Canadian Museum for Human Rights — Winnipeg

2. Athabasca Falls — Jasper, Alta.

3. Niagara Falls — Niagara Falls, Ont.

4. Old Quebec — Quebec City

5. Lake Louise — Alberta

6. Capilano Suspension Bridge — Vancouver

7. Butchart Gardens — Victoria

8. Bay of Fundy — Nova Scotia/New Brunswick

9. Old Montreal — Montreal

10. Stanley Park — Vancouver

11. Peggy's Point Lighthouse — Peggy's Cove, N.S.

12. Churchill polar bears — Churchill

13. Mount Royal Park — Montreal

14. Parliament Hill — Ottawa

15. Peak 2 Peak Gondola — Whistler, B.C.

16. Rideau Canal — Ottawa

17. Royal Tyrrell Museum — Drumheller, Alta.

18. CN Tower — Toronto

19. Green Gables Heritage Place — Charlottetown, P.E.I.

20. Dinosaur Provincial Park — Alberta

Best destination in Canada

1. Saskatoon

2. St. John's, N.L.

3. Montreal

4. Quebec City

5. Banff, Alta.

6. Vancouver

7. Victoria

8. Toronto

9. Charlottetown

10. Winnipeg

11. Lunenburg, N.S.

12. Tofino, B.C.

13. Whistler, B.C.

14. Calgary

15. Niagara region, Ont.

16. Ottawa

17. Canmore, Alta.

18. Whitehorse

19. St. Andrews, N.B.

20. Yellowknife

Best scenic drive in Canada

1. St. Lawrence Route — Baie-Saint-Paul to La Malbaie, Que.

2. Icefields Parkway — Banff to Jasper, Alta.

3. Gaspesie Tour — Sainte-Flavie loop, Que.

4. Cabot Trail — Cape Breton Island loop, N.S.

5. Sea-to-Sky Highway — Vancouver to Whistler, B.C.

6. Trans-Canada Highway — Kamloops, B.C., to Banff, Alta.

7. Dempster Highway — Dawson City, Yukon, to Inuvik, N.W.T.

8. Acadian Coastal Drive — Moncton to Bathurst, N.B.

9. Bow Valley Parkway — Banff to Lake Louise, Alta.

10. Pacific Rim Highway — Port Alberni to Tofino, B.C.

11. Irish Loop — Cape Shore, N.L.

12. Alaska Highway — Dawson Creek, B.C., to Watson Lake, Yukon

13. Highway 60 Corridor — Algonquin Park West to East Gate, Ont.

14. Klondike Trail — Whitehorse to Dawson City, Yukon

15. Parks Route — Cartwright to Roblin

16. Viking Trail — Gros Morne to St. Anthony, N.L.

17. Trans-Labrador Highway — Labrador City to L'Anse-au-Clair, N.L.

18. Appalachian Range Route — Perth-Andover to Dalhousie, N.B.

19. Fundy Coastal Drive — St. Stephen to Aulac, N.B.

20. River Valley Scenic Drive — Edmundston to Saint John, N.B.

Best national park in Canada

1. Jasper National Park — Alberta

2. Banff National Park — Alberta

3. Cape Breton Highlands National Park — Nova Scotia

4. Grasslands National Park — Saskatchewan

5. Prince Albert National Park — Saskatchewan

6. Thousand Islands National Park — Ontario

7. Gros Morne National Park — Newfoundland and Labrador

8. Waterton Lakes National Park — Alberta

9. La Mauricie National Park — Quebec

10. Yoho National Park — British Columbia

11. Riding Mountain National Park

12. Fundy National Park — New Brunswick

13. Prince Edward Island National Park

14. Auyuittuq National Park — Nunavut

15. Georgian Bay Islands National Park — Ontario

16. Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve — British Columbia

17. Kluane National Park — Yukon

18. Nahanni National Park Reserve — Northwest Territories

19. Pacific Rim National Park Reserve — British Columbia

20. Torngat Mountains National Park — Newfoundland and Labrador

Best cottage region in Canada

1. Cavendish — Prince Edward Island

2. Sunshine Coast — British Columbia

3. Eastern Townships — Quebec

4. Bras d'Or Lake — Nova Scotia

5. Lake of the Woods — Ontario

6. 1000 Islands — Ontario

7. Okanagan Valley — British Columbia

8. Prince Albert National Park — Saskatchewan

9. Muskoka Lakes — Ontario

10. Kawarthas — Ontario

11. Bruce Peninsula — Ontario

12. Georgian Bay — Ontario

13. Gulf Islands — British Columbia

14. South Shore — Nova Scotia

15. Haliburton Highlands — Ontario

16. Lake Winnipeg

17. Laurentians — Quebec

18. Shediac — New Brunswick

19. Shuswap — British Columbia

20. Whiteshell Provincial Park

— source: www.10best.com/awards/travel

scott.emmerson@freepress.mb.ca