Condé Nast Traveler surveys best island destinations in Asia, world

After being excluded last year, Cebu island bounces back at number 8.

An international magazine that specializes in luxury travel has ranked Cebu as the 8th best island destinatino  in Asia for 2011.

The Condé Nast Traveler survey also recognized Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort and Spa in Mactan Island, Cebu, in the category of Top Resorts in Asia.

It was the resort’s second time to make the list.

In a field of 20 in Asia, the high-end Mactan resort ranked number 14 with 84.8, a notch higher than last year’s   83.2 points. Another Shangri-La property, the Shangri-La’s Boracay Resort and Spa, was ranked no. 17 with 83.8 points.

The world’s best resort is the Ritz-Carlton Shanghai in Pudong with a score of 99.2 points, while the Best Resort in Asia is the Ayana Resort and Spa in Bali (95.7 points).

The results, released last week, are from Condé Nast’s 24th Annual Readers’ Choice Awards, a listing of the best cities, islands, hotels, transportation and resorts worldwide for 2011.

There are 1,285 top scorers all over the world.

“The demand for excellence in travel has never been higher, and the results of the 2011 Readers’ Choice Awards reflect the most exacting standards by the world’s most discerning travelers—the readers of  Condé Nast Traveler,”  said editor in chief  Klara Glowczewska.

Cebu bounced back this year at number 8 (77.2 points) after being shut out and dislodged by Luzon island last year.

Still, it failed to surpass Luzon ranking this year at no. 6 (77.9 points) on the list of Top Island Destinations. Luzon was ranked at no. 7 last year (75.1 points).

Cebu is a small island in the Visayas with a population of 3 million compared with Luzon’s 48 million.  Luzon includes Metro Manila and regions of Ilocos, Bicol, Central Luzon, Cagayan and the Cordilleras.

Cebu has occupied the 7th place four times in the magazine’s annual survey: 72.6 in 2009, 70.9 in 2008, 72.3 in 2007 and 72.8 in 2004. Twice, it has been ranked 8th best island destination by the same survey: in 2006 with 71.0 points and in 2005, with 69.5 points.

In the category of Asia, the top ten best islands destinations are the following: Maldives (87.5), Bali (84.30), Phuket (80.0), Seychelles (79.9), Malaysian Borneo (79.2), Mauritius (77.4), Langkawi (76.1) and Koh Samui (73.7).  Maldives, Bali and Phuket have maintained their last year’s ranking.

Kyoto claims the Best Asian City for the first time after beating Bangkok, a consistent winner since the ranking started.

In the same survey, two Manila-based hotels made it to the Top Hotels in Asia. Edsa Shangri-La, Manila was ranked at 54th with a score of 89.3 (ranked at 100th  with a score of 83.9 points last year). The Peninsula Manila is at 111th with a rating of 83.7 points.

Every year since 1988, a select sample of Condé Nast Traveler readers have taken the Readers’ Choice Survey. The questionnaire is available to all readers through a secure website. This year, there were 28,876 responses from readers with combined eight million votes. They were tabulated by Global Market Insite Inc., of Boston.

The annual Readers’ Choice Awards is derived from the Readers’ Choice Survey, the largest independent poll of consumers’ preferences in the U.S.

Each candidate was rated, criterion by criterion, on a five-point scale: excellent, very good, good, fair and poor. Criterion scores, which represent the percentage of respondents rating a candidate excellent or very good, were averaged to determine the final scores.

Questionnaires contained lists of candidates (individual cities, hotels, etc.) and write-ins were allowed. Only candidates that received a required minimum number of responses were deemed eligible for an award.

Resorts were rated on activities/facilities, food/dining, location, overall design, rooms and service.

Hotels were rated on food/dining, location, overall design, rooms and service.

Island destinations were rated on activities, atmosphere/ambience, beaches, friendliness, lodging, restaurants and scenery.

The resorts and islands were grouped into the United States, Canada, Mexico, Carribean/Atlantic, Oceania, Central and South America; Asia, Africa and the Middle East; and Europe.

A separate list, The Global Top 100, ranks hotels, resorts and cruise lines that achieved near perfection, with no score below 94.3.

The Ritz-Carlton Shanghai in Pudong clinched the top spot this year with near perfect score of 99.2.

No Philippine-based company made it to this year’s list.

Another publication, the New York-based Travel + Leisure magazine,  named Cebu among the “best islands in Asia” twice (last year at number 3 and in 2009 at number 4) in the release of its World’s Best Awards, evaluating hotels, airlines, cruises islands and cities all over the world.

Condé Nast Traveler is an American magazine published by Condé Nast Publications, which specializes in luxury travel and reviews of high-priced hotels, products and services. In 2008, it was named one of the top 10 magazines in the U.S. by both Adweek and Advertising Age.

A UK edition, Condé Nast Traveller, uses the British spelling for the title. The format and content are very similar to the U.S. edition.