Bali named as world top resort island

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Bali, the country's most famous resort island, has won the World's Best Island Award this year, a leading U.S. Travel+Leisure tourism magazine says.

Bali, which has now taken the top honor for the third year running, beating out dozens of top tourist destinations across the globe including the Galapagos Islands and Hawaii, which had to be content for fourth and fifth places respectively.

Antara reported readers in the July 27 edition of the magazine voted for Bali in the best island category. Other categories included the best hotel, city, tour operator and safari outfitter, airline, cruise liner, and car-rental agency.

On its website www.travelandleisure.com, the magazine said Bali collected the highest points in the island category based on evaluations of natural attractions, restaurants and food, people, value, hotel services, transportation and the overall tourism package.

Kristio Wahyono, the country's consul general based in New York, is expected to receive the award on July 29 at a ceremony in the city's Per Se restaurant.

Kristio said the award confirmed Bali had bounced back as one of the world's top tourist destinations from its slump following the bombing two years ago. "Bali has managed to recover from those horrible bombs, now we have to maintain our success," he said.

The island's Ritz-Carlton Bali Resort & Spa also won the award for the World's Best Hotel for US$250 or less. Other winners include Singapore Airlines and Sydney as the world's best airline and city, respectively.