This is according to the travel guide firm, Lonely Planet.
The British-based company, in its Best In Travel 2010 guide, said Malaysia “is a clever choice for travellers on the lookout for a bargain”.
Thanks to the economic crisis, Iceland and London were also among the top 10 destinations, which included Thailand, South Africa, India, Mexico, Bulgaria, Kenya and Las Vegas,
The annual snapshot book captures “the world’s hottest travel trends, destinations, journeys and experiences for the year ahead”, Lonely Planet said yesterday.
The economic collapse in Iceland meant the island was no longer punitively expensive, said the guide, putting the beleaguered country at the top of its best-value list.
Thailand, at number two, remained “perennially good value”, said the book.
Meanwhile, London’s days as a costly destination were now over, Lonely Planet said, thanks to the exchange rate which made it “much more affordable for visitors from abroad”.
The top 10 countries overall for travellers were El Salvador, Germany, Greece, Malaysia, Morocco, Nepal, New Zealand, Portugal, Suriname and the United States.
The top 10 cities were Abu Dhabi, Charleston (South Carolina), Cork (Ireland), Cuenca (Ecuador), Istanbul, Kyoto (Japan), Lecce (Italy), Sarajevo, Singapore and Vancouver (Canada).
Bali (Indonesia), Goa (India), Koh Kong (Cambodia), Southern Africa and southwest Western Australia featured among the top 10 regions. — AFP
7 comments:
Malaysia is indeed a bargain especially for tourists that come from some Arab countries that have an exchange rate of almost 10:1 ratio. Thus, a RM500 a night hotel would only cost them about 50 dollars thier money and a RM100 buffet would cost them around 10 dollars thier money. So, for them, eating at a 5-star hotel here is like us having lunch at a mamak.
Imagine a RM500,000 condo? They only have to pay 50,000 thier money. It's like buying a proton auto.
I dont know how this will affect our status as a 'world-class' destination but some westerners esp australians have expressed security and infrastructure concerns when doing business here in malaysia. Just last week, our enoforcement agencies had questioned al-qaeda suspects at a 5-star hotel in jln ampang and deported them.
Australians and arabs i have met said that they perfer singapore as malaysia is dirty and hard to get around.
I believe that no matter how cheap your prices are, you must have certain things to attract tourists which are security, cleanliness and easy to get around.
Personally, as a Malaysian, I feel that Malaysia is not as safe, clean and harder to get around due to lack of good public transport and high payment for existing transport including excessive toll. Compared to twenty years ago, material goods especially books have gone up in price.
Thus, when the words 'among world's best' and 'value' is used to describe malaysia, i stop and think that perhaps these words were referring to another time and place in malaysia.
india is veli dirty, people still flocks there.
malaysia hotel too cheap. lousy hotel in europe with no coffee whatsoever, and small wardrobe, easily priced like our 5 stars here. anywhere in the world, malaysia hotel is best all rounder.
whats sooo bad here is the taxi. cheats, penipu, rude, EVEN to locals. have you seen those yang pusing pusing kat KLCC, or at the zoo, or at pudu raya, waiting just to cut throat. tak pakai meter.
serious problem dis one lah
To have the words 'world's best',
'5 star', 'world class', 'apex', etc., in one's country's description means that a GOOD SYSTEM and STRUCTURE MUST be APPLIED SUCCESSFULLY in that country's management, services, and transportation. That is the value of any nation. If we continue to sell our country as cheap then we would only be known as a cheap country.
Cost is not always the determining factor in deciding on holiday destinations.
If that were true, no one should be going to Hawaii, HK, Paris, London etc and they should all be flocking to M'sia. But that's not exactly happening.
Perceptions about religious extremism, personal safety, cleanliness and hygiene, efficient taxi and transport services etc. all feature large in the mind of the foreigner when he looks at M'sia. We don't even have a decent car rental agency for tourists! And where are our landmark world class museums, acquariums and libraries?
We have a long way to go to capturing a bigger slice of the
tourist trade and that's because many are sleeping on the job!
dpp
We are all of 1 race, the Human Race
Dpp,
In Malaysia, I think perceptions about religious extremism only hovers around the heads of politicians or people deeply involved in politics.
As far as I am concern, this is one of the nation on earth where Buddhists build mosques or muslim policemen handles the crowds on a Thaipusam kavadi march.
About capturing the tourist trade, let me point out to you that Malaysia is the #9 most visited country in the world (and second only to China in Asia ranking.
So, there must be something right done by the authority to make the country more desirable than say, Thailand.
I am not involved in politics but I often hear people complaining a lot nowadays.
There are thorns, and there are roses. You may choose to complain or to praise.
Life is too short to spend on complaining.
p/s But yes, I agree the taxi service stinks to high heaven
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