Worldwide shipping firms often have a role to play when Brits want to keep in contact with relatives back home.

And it seems that New Zealand is the number one country foreign that Brits would most like to stay in forever.

This is the finding of the Lonely Planet Awards, which found 14 per cent of people rated the land of the long white cloud as their preferred emigration spot.

The relaxed Kiwi pace of life and natural environment - is the strongest pull factor for Brits, claims Gregg Anderson of Tourism New Zealand.

He said the main areas people move to are the major employment and business towns like Auckland and Wellington.

He comments: "Driven by the lifestyle factors and locations they may have visited while on holiday in New Zealand, we are also seeing Brits settling in places like the Hawke’s Bay and Wanaka."