Boracay, One of Asia’s Top Vacation Spots – Smart Travel Online Mag

BORACAY – This island paradise was voted as one of the Top 10 Holiday destinations in Asia by Smart Travel Asia travel poll for 2010.

Ranked first in the Best Holiday Destinations 2010 category was the exotic Kerala in southern India while Bali, Indonesia dropped to second place. In 2009, Kerala was voted third in Asia’s best tourist destinations.

Coming third was Phuket, Thailand and the fourth spot for Hongkong. Also sharing fifth spot were Hoi An, Vietnam, Maldives and Palawan, Philippines, up by two slots from seventh place in 2009.

The best of the rest in the Top 10 comprises of Bangkok, Thailand (it ranked fifth in 2009) and Shanghai, China (up two slots) in sixth place, Hanoi, Vietnam and Langkawi, Malaysia (ranked sixth in 2009) in seventh place, Koi Samui, Thailand (up one slot) and Rajasthan, Thailand (up two slots) in eighth, Seoul, South Korea came in ninth (tied with Boracay) and Angkor in Cambodia, Goa in India and Penang, Malaysia for tenth place.

Cebu Pacific was also ranked fourth overall in the Top 10 Budget Airlines (low-cost carriers) while Mandala Spa in Boracay coming in 23rd place for “Top 25 Spa Hotels and Resorts”.

Smart Travel is Asia's dedicated online travel magazine with over one million readers annually. The travel poll, now in its sixth year, ran for three key months of May to July.

The vote is based on substantial hands-on travel experience, word-of-mouth at dinnertime chats, as well as an idea of the brand drawn from advertising and editorial exposure in the media. Approximately 60 percent were based in Asia (largely Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, India, China, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, and the Middle East), 20 percent in United Kingdom and Europe and 20 percent in United States and North America.