Bangkok ranks 9th in World's Best Cities poll

[reader]

Readers of Travel and Leisure submitted nearly 165,000 responses for the magazine's annual survey. Bangkok finished ninth behind winner Oaxaca, Mexico.

Cities were specifically rated on the criteria below:

• Sights/landmarks
• Culture
• Food
• Friendliness
• Shopping
• Value

To view the entire list, go to:

https://www.travelandleisure.com/our-readers-favorite-cities-in-the-world-of-2023-7555844

 

 

[PeterRS]

As with all polls, who votes and how the votes are collated are important in deciding whether the poll results are suitable for each individual. I have never purchased Travel and Leisure magazine but used to read it when magazines were available on aircraft. I know I visited two destinations simply because I had read about them in the magazine. After all its writing is principally about travel destinations.

To that end, readership of Travel & Leisure has a median age of 54, 77% own their own home with a median value of US$345,809, a median household income of US$110,478 and a female to male ratio of 59/41. Clearly it is the wives who make many of the travel decisions!

That said, over my many years of travelling i have visited 17 of the 25 listed cities. At the time I visited, I could not argue with any of the findings. But then I could also add several dozen more!

https://meredithdirectmedia.com/magazines/travel-leisure

[reader]

2 hours ago, PeterRS said:

Clearly it is the wives who make many of the travel decisions!

Of the male/female couples I know, it is indeed the wives who make travel decisions. Although most are careful to include a golfing destination.🙂

2 hours ago, PeterRS said:

AI could not argue with any of the findings. But then I could also add several dozen more!

+1

[hojacat]

6 hours ago, PeterRS said:

As with all polls, who votes and how the votes are collated are important in deciding whether the poll results are suitable for each individual. I have never purchased Travel and Leisure magazine but used to read it when magazines were available on aircraft. I know I visited two destinations simply because I had read about them in the magazine. After all its writing is principally about travel destinations.

To that end, readership of Travel & Leisure has a median age of 54, 77% own their own home with a median value of US$345,809, a median household income of US$110,478 and a female to male ratio of 59/41. Clearly it is the wives who make many of the travel decisions!

That said, over my many years of travelling i have visited 17 of the 25 listed cities. At the time I visited, I could not argue with any of the findings. But then I could also add several dozen more!

https://meredithdirectmedia.com/magazines/travel-leisure

Judging by the high number of Mexican destinations, I would conclude most the voters were Americans and/or Canadians. Personally in Mexico, I only enjoy CDMX. Other places and I've been both on the Pacific and the Atlantic coast, don't appeal much to me. Maybe because I'm not really into neither Mexican food or guys. Plus safety is always a concern.

I have been to 20 of the places mentioned in the article, but only I would consider only 2-3 of them in my personal Top 25 and I think there is a universal agreement among the people of this forum that BKK is in the list of each of us.

[PeterRS]

4 hours ago, hojacat said:

Judging by the high number of Mexican destinations, I would conclude most the voters were Americans and/or Canadians.

Travel & Leisure is indeed a publlication aimed primarily at the North American market, although it has been making inroads into Europe. Interestingly, I was not aware there is an Asian edition covering Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Macau. In the blurb at the start of its website it makes very clear that the Travel and Leisure readership is the luxury market. It therefore probably is of little interest to readers of gaythailand - apart ftom our @vinapu whose love of 7-star Michelin cuisine is well known  

"Travel + Leisure Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Macau is the Asian edition of the American luxury travel and lifestyle magazine and your go-to source of travel inspiration. Published by BurdaLuxury, a Hubert Burda Media company, the magazine comprises an audience of luxury travellers, high net worth individuals, CEOs, entrepreneurs . . . Travel + Leisure Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Macau explores destinations, ideas, and trends and celebrates people who create authentic luxury experiences. Travel + Leisure globally and in Asia enjoys a remarkable history of credibility and is the bible of luxury travel in Asia and abroad."

Given that readers here are almost all residents of Thailand or visitors, I wonder what their list of top 10 destinations have been/would be on their existing budgets (excluding Thailand)? I find it incredibly difficult to limit my list to 10 but I'll start the ball rolling in no particular order (have visited all but Santorini).

Tokyo, Istanbul, Petra, Paris, Torres del Paine National Park in Chilean Patagonia, Madrid, Florence, Isfahan, Sydney, Santorini.

[hojacat]

6 hours ago, PeterRS said:

In the blurb at the start of its website it makes very clear that the Travel and Leisure readership is the luxury market

Which makes that list even more difficult to comprehend, as a lot of those destinations can't really be associated or considered destinations attracting high net-worth individuals. I mean you would imagine to see St. Bart's or the Cayman Islands instead of Oaxaca and Guadalajara, with all due respect for those two places.

 

7 hours ago, PeterRS said:

Given that readers here are almost all residents of Thailand or visitors, I wonder what their list of top 10 destinations have been/would be on their existing budgets (excluding Thailand)? I find it incredibly difficult to limit my list to 10 but I'll start the ball rolling in no particular order (have visited all but Santorini).

Tokyo, Istanbul, Petra, Paris, Torres del Paine National Park in Chilean Patagonia, Madrid, Florence, Isfahan, Sydney, Santorini.

Personally if I have to come up with this kind of lists, I would definitely have them divided by category: big cities, small towns, big natural park/attraction, big historical/cultural site as you can't really compare Petra where you would spend at the most 1-2 days with a place like Paris and Tokyo. They are just two different things. A bit like comparing a poem with a historical saga like War and Peace.

[PeterRS]

3 hours ago, hojacat said:

Personally if I have to come up with this kind of lists, I would definitely have them divided by category: big cities, small towns, big natural park/attraction, big historical/cultural site as you can't really compare Petra where you would spend at the most 1-2 days with a place like Paris and Tokyo. They are just two different things. A bit like comparing a poem with a historical saga like War and Peace.

I don't think for a list like this it matters at all what the location is. It's a destination - not a place for a two-week holiday. I adored Esfahan but three or four days is plenty of time to see it. Petra, as @hojacat points out is not more than a 2-day destination. But there are tons of other things to see if you happen to be going to Jordan. Similarly the Torres del Paine National Park is purely nature at its most stunning. You won't find any of the comforts of sights of a big city anywhere near there. But that is no reason not to visit the more so as there are many other sights within a reasonanble distance - as for example the huge Perito Moreno Glacier, one of the few actually advancing in a time of global warming.

[vinapu]

Mine will be ( visited all, in order visited) :

Lhasa (Tibet), Easter Island, Jerusalem, Pyramids of Egypt, Machu Picchu, Tikal, Siem Reap, Bagan, Istambul and Luxor. 

With exception of last two those were my childhood dreams so making list was breeze for me. 

 

[PeterRS]

I'd love to see Lhasa, Luxor and take the dawn balloon trip over Bagan. But we're all different and I have never had an interest in Easter Island, Jerusalem, the Pyramds and Tikal. Machu Picchu was amazing. Were I ever to return to South America I would love to base myself in Cusco and explore more of the surrounding valleys. I found Cusco fascinating/