Wanderlust, the UK’s leading travel magazine, has declared Vietnam’s Hoi
An city the world’s Top City in its latest Readers’ Travel Awards.
Hoi An came out with a massive 97.18 percent
satisfaction rating. According to Wanderlust, nearly 3,000 of its
readers voted in this year’s awards.
At the award
ceremony held on January 31 in London , the magazine’s founder and
Editor-in-Chief, Lyn Hughes, handed over the certificate of gold award
of the Top City category to Counsellor of the Embassy of Vietnam
to the UK Le Thi Thu Hang.
The Top City
category is part of the Wanderlust Travel Awards that include various
categories such as the Top Country, Top Airline and Top Airport.
Lyn also said that a total of 976 cities
received votes in this year’s awards, but none could quite match Hoi An.
With a whopping 97.18 percent satisfaction rating, the cultural
Vietnamese hub was a clear winner.
“A
beautiful city, it really is very likeable,” Wanderlust’s Mark Stratton
has been quoted as saying in the magazine’s press release. Mark, who has
just returned from a visit, added: “Beaches and rural surrounds add up
to a great package for travellers. A worthy winner.”
The Wanderlust Readers’ Travel Awards 2013 are based on readers’
travels from December 2011 to November 2012. Results are based on an
average satisfaction score (converted to a percentage) rather than a
number of votes cast. An entry required a minimum number of votes to be
considered. In categories where no percentage is shown, results are
based on number of votes cast.
Cusco, a
city in southeastern Peru received 95.76 percent of the vote and won
silver award; while Kyoto, Japan, took the bronze award with
94.81 percent.
Hoi An, an ancient town in
central Quang Nam province, was recognised as a World Heritage Site
by UNESCO in 1999. Its building and its street plan reflects the
influences, both indigenous and foreign, that have combined to produce
this unique heritage site.
The Wanderlust magazine, which was launched in 1993, has subscribers in 112 countries.-VNA