Maldives Tops Honeymoon List

by s.s. yoga

As a dream honeymoon spot, the Maldives is a clear favourite. – Photo from Agoda.com

Still feeling the love two days after Valentine's Day? It's never too late to plan a romantic getaway with your partner. This list of top honeymoon spots should help.

TO be in the throes of passion and love and needing a place to share it with that loved one, think Maldives. The Indian Ocean paradise is the hottest choice for honeymooners, not just to Malaysians but also to the rest of the world.

According to the results of a Global Honeymoon Survey conducted by Agoda.com – one of Asia’s leading hotel booking sites – Maldives is the No. 1 dream honeymoon location. The island nation received a little over 20% of the votes from around the world – an outcome that matched that of Malaysian voters.

“We know the Maldives is a popular destination for couples but we were surprised that its allure is so global. Among countries where we had more than 100 respondents, only three didn’t pick it as the most popular dream honeymoon destination – the Philippines, Saudi Arabia and New Zealand,” said Errol Cooke, Global Hotels vice-president.

The survey, carried out online in January and February 2014, asked more than 15,000 Agoda.com travellers to pick their dream honeymoon location from among 20 destinations listed.

Greek Islands came a far second at 7.8% but was closely followed by Paris and Bali at No. 3 and 4 (7.6% and 7.1%) repectively.

Hawaii and Italy came next with 6.6% and 6.5% respectively.

For Malaysian travellers, Paris (14%) and Istanbul (10%) were the second and third choices. Bali, relatively close to Malaysia, was next, with New Zealand rounding out the top five.

The Maldives was a global choice among Agoda.com travellers from Asia, North America and Europe.

Outcome for the first runner-up wasn't as unanimous. To Europeans it was Bali while North Americans opted for the Greek Islands.

The survey also revealed that Europeans preferred far-flung places, with 89% picking destinations outside of their region.

Meanwhile, Cancun, Mexico, often touted as one of the world’s best honeymoon spots, didn’t fare as well among Agoda.com customers. Only 2.4% selected it as their No. 1 location.

Of the 20 choices available, Croatia and Montreal were the least popular, with 1% and 0.9% respectively.

Source: The Star

Chalets On Water For Penang

PENANG will see its first hotel with water chalets opening soon in Teluk Kumbar.

State Tourism Development and Culture committee chairman Danny Law Heng Kiang said that the hotel with water chalets was among three new hotels that will be opening in the near future.

“The other two hotels will be located in George Town and Bayan Baru,” he said.

He said that tourism was increasing in the state and the hotels were being built to meet the demand.

“We have been aggressively promoting Penang food and culture in other countries and the results are showing with the increased number of tourists in the state,” he said.

He said the most number of tourists coming to Penang were from Indonesia followed by Singapore, China, Japan, United States of America, Taiwan, Australia and Thai- land.

“With the opening of these new hotels, we expect to see a higher increase in tourists,” he said.

Source: The Star