Asia’s very own award-winning luxury travel and lifestyle magazine, DestinAsian, announced the proud winners of its first-ever Readers’ Choice Awards during the award presentation ceremony hosted at The Peninsula, Hong Kong, on 14 February 2007. Bangkok was voted ‘Best Leisure DestinAsian City’ and The Oriental Bangkok won the DestinAsian ‘Best Hotel, Bangkok’ award.

Bangkok
Come leisure time, however, the Thai capital once again reigns supreme among Asian cities mostly due to its “great food and nightlife”. Plenty of shopping and sightseeing to be had here as well as “excellent value for money”.
Source: Excerpt from DestinAsian

The DestinAsian Media Group began operations in Jakarta in 2001 and apart from DestinAsian itself, now publishes several lifestyle publications.

DestinAsian is a bimonthly publication with a readership of 90,000. It is distributed to affluent travellers through subscription, newsstands, in-flight and controlled circulation throughout Asia and beyond. Key markets include Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Taiwan, and Australia and New Zealand, as well as some key Middle East destinations. The publication targets those individuals who not only enjoy travel but who also appreciate the finer things in life.

“These awards are particularly meaningful because they reflect the views of our readers who are seasoned travellers for business and leisure, ” DestinAsian Founder and Publisher, Ronald Liem said.

“Our own research shows that they are frequent travellers for fun and profit, that they travel extensively and have a tremendous knowledge of the Asian region.”

Mr. Liem congratulated all the winners of the first Readers’ Choice Awards, urging them to maintain and enhance the standards that make the Asian region not just a favoured destination for business travellers, but for leisure travel as well.

Mr. Liem said a special DestinAsian Readers’ Choice logo has been created for use of all winners in their advertising and promotional material.

“Asia is lucky enough to be a five-star destination in a four-star world,” he said. “Our hotels, resorts, and airlines are amongst the best in the world and we also have some of the most exotic and exciting destinations, both urban and rural.”

“Our cities are amongst the most attractive and vibrant destinations in the world and our holiday destinations rank with the most beautiful, exotic, and luxurious to be found anywhere,” he added.

“And things just keep getting better. With the opening of China, India, Vietnam and so many other countries to tourism and business, there are more destinations that are more easily accessible than ever before.”

Voting for the first DestinAsian Readers’ Choice Awards was held in the latter half of last year through a survey which sought readers’ opinions on their favorite destinations, hotels, and airlines in the Asia-Pacific region.

Readers were required to nominate a winner in each category and provide a short explanation on the reasons for their choice.

The announcement of the inaugural winners at a special award luncheon at The Peninsula, Hong Kong coincided with the launch of a new design for DestinAsian magazine and its popular website – www.destinasian.com

Mr. Liem thanked DestinAsian readers for taking the time to complete the survey and for their continued support. “We look forward to making these awards an annual event with the objective of encouraging even higher industry standards,” he said.

“If you are like me and put a high value on fellow travellers’ recommendations, our annual Readers’ Choice Awards should become a valued source of information - and forum for your own views – in the years to come.”

	Further details of readers’ opinions are available in the February-March 2006 issue of DestinAsian.

Source: DestinAsian-Travel & Lifestyle Magazine release dated February 17— 2006
Web site: http://www.destinasian.com/news.php