Tourism Thailand : TAT RELEASE > BANGKOK, CHIANG MAI RANKED ASIA’S BEST CITIES BY LEADING U.S. TRAVEL MAGAZINE

Bangkok, Thailand, 20 October, 2008 — Bangkok and Chiang Mai have been rated as the Best Cities of Asia 2008 from American readers of Condé Nast Traveler, an US leading travel & lifestyle magazine. The readers voted Bangkok as Best City of Asia with an overall score of 82.8%, followed by Chiang Mai (81.2%).

The award was conferred at the Readers Choice Awards 2008 Ceremony & Gala Dinner held at The New York Public Library, New York City, USA on 15 October 2008. It was accepted on behalf of the entire Thai travel and tourism industry by Mr. Weerasak Kowsurat, Minister of Tourism & Sports.

Readers of Condé Nast Traveler magazine, which has an audience of 3.1 million and readership of 32,633, were polled on the basis of first-hand experience of their world-wide holidays.

For 20 years, it has conducted an annual readers’ choice survey to rank best cities, cruise lines, airlines, hotels and resort wordwide and honour them with the World’s Best award.

Criterion scores for the best cities, which represent the percentage of respondents rating a candidate excellent were averaged to determine the final score-atmosphere/ambience, culture/sites, friendliness, lodging, restaurants and shopping.

Other high-level rankings attained by Thai products services in Readers’ Choice Awards 2008 included Phuket and Samui, which were respectively ranked 3rd and 6th on the list of Top 10 Islands in Asia. Thai Airways International was ranked 7th on the list of Top 25 airlines.

On the list of Top 100 Asia Hotels, fourteen were in Thailand as follows:

Name	Rank
Peninsula Bangkok	4
Oriental Bangkok	6
Shangri-La Bangkok	7
Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi, Chiang Mai	23
Sukhothai, Bangkok	27
Sheraton Grand Sukhumvit, Bangkok	28
Intercontinental Bangkok	31
Four Seasons Bangkok	41
Shangri-La Chiang Mai	48
J W Marriott Bangkok	62
Royal Orchid Sheraton Bangkok	76
Plaza Athenee Bangkok	80
Conrad Bangkok	89
Pan Pacific Bangkok	100

On the list of Top 25 Asia Resorts, ten were in Thailand as follows:

Name	Rank
Four Seasons Tented Camp Golden Triangle	1
Four Seasons Chiang Mai	8
The Jedi Chiang Mai	13
J W Marriott Phuket Resort and Spa	14
Rayawadee Krabi	15
Four Seasons Samui Island	17
Amanpuri Phuket	18
Banyan Tree Phuket	19
Sofitel Poki Tara Krabi	21
Anantara Golden Triangle	24

In January – June 2008, international visitor arrivals at Suvarnabhumi International Airport totalled 5.6 million, up 14.4% over the same period of 2007. Arrivals from the USA were up 9.38% to 311,901. This year, the TAT is projecting a total of 694,000 visitor arrivals from US, generating a projected 39.8 million baht in tourism income.

Contact information:
International Public Relation Division
Tourism Authority of Thailand
Tel: +66 (0) 2250 5500 ext. 4545-48
Fax: +66 (0) 2253 7419
E-mail: prdiv3@tat.or.th
Web site: www.tatnews.org

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