The Libur/Traverama Tourism Award 2006 is jointly organised by Malaysia’s Karangkraf Group, one of Malaysia’s leading publishers with 34 publications, the Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board and the state of Negeri Sembilan.

Karangkraf Group publications include women's magazines, teenage, children, parenting, health and fashion publications and a number of respected titles covering IT, economic, social and political issues.

Dato’ Seri Utama Mohamad Hassan, Chief Minister of Negeri Sembilan, the Deputy Permanent-Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism, representing the Minister of Tourism, and Chairman of the Karangkraf Group presided at the award presentation ceremony, which was hosted at the Tiara Beach Resort, Port Dickson, south of Kuala Lumpur, end of April 2006.

Nominees for the 2006 Libur/Traverama Tourism Award represent various sectors of the tourism and tourism-related industries comprising tourism destinations, shopping outlets, hotels, spas, homestays, art galleries and restaurants.

Tourism destinations worldwide were nominated for the ‘Premier International Destination’ category. Winners were determined by a total cumulative score, fifty per cent of which reflects scores assigned by readers of Karangkraf Group publications and the remaining fifty per cent cast by a distinguished panel of judges.

Samui-Thailand ranked first in the top-five, followed by Vienna, Austria; Jogjakarta-Indonesia; Carcassone, France and Brussels, Belgium.

Samui is currently a popular destination among young Malaysians as well as affluent travellers. Berjaya Air operates scheduled flights between Kuala Lumpur and Samui, Surat Thani, twice a week on Thursday and Sunday.