Bali earns best island title in 12 consecutive years by DestinAsian

It was the 12th of such a title received by the island from the media consecutively.

The award was resulted from the readers' picks on best Asian prominent destination islands asked by the website.

Natural beauties, cultural and culinary richness, commendable hospitality accommodation and local people's friendliness were accounted as reasons to pick Bali as the best Asian destination island.

"This is a praiseworthy title. Bali now has earned it in 12 consecutive years as the best island picked by DestinAsian Readers Choice Awards (RCA)," Tourism Deputy Minister for Foreign Marketing I Gde Pitana said recently to welcome the award.

Bali outclassed Phuket, Maldives and Langkawi in DestinAsian RCA's 10 best Asian destinations with Indonesia's Lombok picked at the tenth.

In hospitality category, the DestinAsian readers picked Bali's Alila Villas Uluwatu as the Best boutique hotel.

Meanwhile in hotel spa category, Bali won the readers' pick with Ayana Spa and Bali Four Season Resort's The Spa secured the third rank.

Apart from those categories, Destinasian readers ranked state-run airline Garuda Indonesia as the third in best economy class for airline category.

In airline frequent flier program category, Garuda was ranked the fifth.

Indonesian Tourism Minister Arief Yahya hailed such an appreciation from the reputable travel review website, saying that it would encourage the efforts to further boost the tourism sector which has been declared as the nation's core business.

"We should go further in pursuing world class reputation so as to place our Wonderful Indonesia brand exists in any competition," the minister said in a statement.