From No. 4 island overall in the world and No. 2 island in Asia in 2011, Boracay Island this year beats world renowned destinations like Santorini, Bali, and Sicily to emerge as 2012′s World’s Best Island in the annual survey of US-based magazine Travel + Leisure.
This year’s winners of the survey, which is now on its 17th year, were determined through a questionnaire developed and issued by the magazine’s editors in association with ROI Research Inc. The survey was made available to magazine readers through TLWorldsBest.com from December 1, 2010, to March 31, 2012. The survey took strict standards in the sense that after March 31, respondents were even screened by the T + L team just to ensure the survey retains its integrity and “any identified travel-industry professionals who completed the survey were eliminated from the final tally.”
Boracay leaped ahead of last year’s Best Island, Santorini in Greece, which has gone down to No. 6 this year. Bali in Indonesia retains its No. 2 position. Last year’s No. 3, Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, was nowhere in this year’s Top 10 list. Instead, this year’s No. 3 is Galapagos while No. 4 went to Maui. The other islands named were Great Barrier Reef Islands (No. 5), Kauai (No. 7), Big Island in Hawaii (No. 8), Sicily in Italy (No. 9), and Vancouver Island in British Columbia (No. 10).
In a Today show guesting, T+L’s features director Nilou Mohammed announced the new set of Travel + Leisure World’s Best Award winners. She described Boracay as very important because it’s “something you should know about when you’re interested in culture and value. It’s a place that’s not really on everyone’s radar but not only does it have hotels that start at US$50 but also incredible hotels like the Shangri-La So you get the high and low.”
Discovery Shores in Boracay also bagged Travel + Leisure World’s Best 2012 Hotel Spa in the Asian Region. T + L has described the experience in the luxurious resort as: “Barefoot elegance is the prevailing vibe on this tiny island, where the 2 ½-mile stretch known as White Beach is often singled out for having the softest sand in the world.”
Top winners in each category will be honored at an awards ceremony on July 14 to be hosted by the magazine’s Editor in Chief Nancy Novogrod and VP/Publisher Jean-Paul Kyrillos at the new Mr. C Beverly Hills hotel in Los Angeles.
source: interaksyon.com
