Bagan loses 'Best City' title to Luang Prabang

 

Bagan was last year's Top City winner. 

"Bagan takes a close second place – proving that not only are our readers an intrepid bunch, they have fantastic taste, too," the leading British travel magazine said.

Stockholm in Sweden comes in third, being new on the top 10 list. 

Some 97.14 per cent of readers nominated Luang Prabang as their favourite destination while 95 per cent also voted for Bagan and 94.74 per cent voted for Stockholm, according to a report from the Luang Prabang provincial Department of Information, Culture and Tourism. 

The readers were asked where they visited last year and requested to list up to four entries.

According to Hnoun Hnoun Han, the general secretary of the Myanmar Tourism Federation, Bagan expects to welcome more than 300,000 visitors during April 2014 and March 2013. Due to its increasing popularity, the entry fee for foreigners to the city, which has around 2,200 surviving temples and pagodas built by various kings, has recently been raised from US$15 to $20.

Myanmar as a whole was the ninth top ranked country to visit for 2015 with 95.16 per cent of the magazine's readers voting for it. 

Laos was the eighth top ranked country to visit for 2015 with over 95.25 per cent of the magazine's readers voting for it, while it was the 10th top rank ed country to visit for 2014 with over 93 per cent of readers voting for it.

The top 10 destinations are New Zealand, Namibia, Ethiopia, Bhutan, Zambia, Oman, Costa Rica, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.

According to Vientiane Time, Department of Information, Culture and Tourism Deputy Director Soudaphone Khomthavong, this latest ranking will further spur the growth of the tourism industry in Luang Prabang and the country as a whole, and encourage the provision of better services and facilities for domestic and international visitors. 

Luang Prabang province has a population of over 400,000 while the number of overseas visitors last year was more than 340,000 people. 

Wanderlust readers previously ranked Luang Prabang as “best tourist destination” for three consecutive years from 2006-2008. It lost the top ranking in 2009 but was still in the top 10 in the same category before again topping the list from 2010 to 2012. 

Luang Prabang is the former capital of the Lane Xang Kingdom, meaning the Land of a Million Elephants. The town is a cultural centre in the region, with its numerous temples paying testimony to its former glory.

Its landmark attractions are its centuries-old Buddhist temples and monasteries, Kuang Xi waterfall, Phousy hill and Buddha cave, all of which are easily accessible.

Unesco declared the town a World Heritage Site in 1995 and since then tourist arrivals have risen with each passing year.

In 2013, the number of overseas visitors to Luang Prabang reached 343,000 and the province has set an ambitious goal for tourist arrivals to hit the 500,000 mark this year.