Bali favorite island in Asia: Magazine

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Bali's panoramic views and unique mixture of spiritualism and tourism has made it the favorite island for travellers in the Asia-Indian Ocean region, according to readers of Conde Nast Traveler magazine.

The international award was received by Bali Tourism Agency head I Gede Nurjaya last week in London at the World Travel Mart 2004, Antara news agency reported.

"Even though Bali has received numerous awards, many things still need to be perfected to make it a high-quality tourist destination," Nurjaya said.

The island beat out other attractive destinations such as Phuket in Thailand and the Maldives in the Indian Ocean. Borneo and Bali's next-door neighbor Lombok also made it into the top 10 destination list; in eighth and 10th position respectively.

Conde Nast Traveler surveyed 241,000 subscribers to determine the winner of this year's award. Other awards were also presented to favorite cities, hotels, resorts, and modes of transport.

The award indicates that travelers still prefer Bali over other islands, despite the bombing in 2002 and repeated travel warnings issued by the United States and other countries.

Previously, Bali received a similar award from the Time Magazine in 2003, which surveyed 60,000 readers around the globe.

The island has seen a surge of foreign tourists this year. In the first 10 months some 1.22 million foreigners came to Bali, already a significant increase on last year, when less than a million foreigners came.