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Once again, Indonesia’s entrancing island of Bali successfully captivated the world’s attention. This year, Bali succeeded in reaching the Top in the prestigious Trip Advisor Travelers’ Choice Award named as the World’s Best Destination 2017. Crowned at number One of world destinations, the Island of the Gods outranked renowned tourist hotspots that include London, Paris, Rome, New York, Crete, Barcelona, Siem Reap, Prague and Phuket.
In its 9th edition this year, the Award is presented annually by Trip Advisor. This year, a total of 418 tourist destinations competed. Award winners were chosen based on an algorithm summarizing both quality and quantity of reviews and ratings. Traveler’s experience on hotels, restaurants and many attractions worldwide were gathered over a 12 months’ period to determine the winners list.
Sarah Matthews, Head of Trip Advisor Destination Marketing for Asia Pacific region personally presented the Award directly to Bali’s Provincial Government, represented by Dewa Putu Sunarta, Assistant Head of The Economic Development Board of Bali, at The Seminyak Beach Resort and Spa on April 20th 2017.
“Bali has proven to be the Best Tourist Destination in the World encompassing all kinds of traveler’s holiday interests. Whether in natural attractions, cultural richness and gastronomic adventures, these can all be enjoyed in many spots throughout the Island of Bali. Apparently, today the urge to share these unique and memorable experiences to the world, is no longer unusual,” said Sarah Matthews.
The fascinating sunset of Bali became the stunning backdrop for the Awarding presentation. The event was also attended by Deputy for International Tourism Marketing Development of the Ministry of Tourism, I Gde Pitana. “It is a great honor, indeed, for Bali to be chosen as World’s Best Destination. I am convinced that this Award will strengthen Indonesia’s position as a nation that places high priority in developing the Tourism Sector,” Pitana added.
Photo source: luhurbali.com
According to Trip Advisor, the most reviewed accommodations in Bali were the Padma Resort Legian, the Nusa Dua Beach Hotel & Spa and the Melia Bali. While in the restaurant category, the three which stood out most were the Potato Head Beach Club, Ku De Ta and La Lucciola. Whereas, in the tourism facilities section, the top list went to the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary in Ubud, Kuta’s Waterbom Bali and the Tanah Lot Temple in Tabanan.
“The content created by travelers from across the globe plays an important role in the search query that any traveler does these days before making a trip. Therefore we encourage more travelers to share their delightful experiences here in Bali through Trip Advisor as insights and inspirations to come visit this destination,” explained Sarah Matthews. Trip Advisor Travelers’ Choice Award 2017 is a token of appreciation that is basically addressed to everyone linked to the tourism sector, and which hopefully will spur the spirit to enhance every aspect needed to make any destination worth the visit.
Photo source: Bali by Hotels.com
More data on Trip Advisor showed that the top countries searching for tourism information on Bali are China, the Netherlands and India. In 2015, Trip Advisor produced 569, 000 tourist trips to Indonesia and a total of 2.5 million tourist nights or equal to USD 853 million worth of economic earnings. This shows that the content uploaded by travelers through Trip Advisor did increase the confidence of potential visitors to the destination. These are the new ways preferred by consumers in the digital era, relying on investigation of information shared across social media platforms, before deciding where they will spend the perfect holiday.
Indonesia’s Tourism Minister, Arief Yahya, meanwhile, expressed his appreciation, “Bali being the first island in the Asian region to have reached the Top of this year’s list is indeed honored by the enormous support and appreciation that the world’s travelers have given us. But the world should also be aware to know that Bali is only 1 amongst more than 17,000 other alluring islands that are as exciting and will welcome you to Indonesia”.
Photo source of header banner: Bali by Hotels.com
