Bangkok named World’s Best City 2010 by travel magazine
July 23, 2010, Friday
NEW YORK: Travel & Leisure Magazine, which caters to the luxury travel market, has released its 2010 ‘World’s Best’ list, with Bangkok voted by readers as the top city in the world, followed by Chiang Mai.Bangkok governor Sukhumbhand Paribathra received this award at The Trump Soho Hotel in New York on July 21, Thai News Agency reports.
The votes were based on namely places for sightseeing, their beauty and greenery; arts and culture; food; shopping areas; people’s friendliness; and value for money spent.
Rounding out the top 10 on the ‘World’s Best City’ list, after Bangkok and Chiang Mai, are Florence (Italy), San Miguel de Allende (Mexico), Rome (Italy), Sydney (Australia), Buenos Aires (Argentina), Oaxaca (Mexico), Barcelona (Spain) and New York City (the US).
Sukhumbhand, who was delighted on behalf of Bangkok residents and the Thai people, urged the Bangkokians to continue their efforts together to make Bangkok the world’s best city for living and travelling.
“The City of Angels citizenry must continue its traditional hospitality in welcoming tourists,” he said, adding that the he would push forward to develop the city to be the World’s best city for tourism.
Tourists are our guests. We must help them to enjoy staying in Bangkok safely, he said.
Travel & Leisure editor-in-chief Nancy Novgorod praised the beauty of Bangkok and Thailand in their natural and cultural aspects, and expressed her disappointments over the recent turmoil.
Travel & Leisure, the world’s leading travel magazine, held its annual World’s Best Awards Readers’ Survey for the 15th consecutive year.
Thailand’s Samui Island and Phuket Island in the South were ranked fourth and the fifth respectively among Best Islands in Asia.
Thailand’s hotels did well too, with the Peninsula Bangkok rising from No. 66 in 2009 to No. 7 in 2010, while Thai Airways was voted the world’s eighth best international airline.
Bangkok was previously voted the ‘World’s Best City’ by the magazine’s readers in 2008, over Buenos Aires and Cape Town of South Africa.
Then-Bangkok governor Apirak Kosayodhin went to receive the award. — Bernama
