Koh Tao named Asia's No 1 island

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Koh Tao named Asia's No 1 island



BANGKOK: - Koh Tao was named Asia’s Number 1 island and the world’s Number 5 island among tourists ahead of Bali and Phuket, according to TripAdvisor, the world’s largest travel site.

It was also ranked the world’s Number 5 travellers’ choice after Providenciates in Turkey, Maui in Hawaii, Roatan in Hondurus and Santorini in Greece.

TripAdvisor honours more than 100 islands worldwide. The annual awards are based on the millions of valuable reviews and opinions from TripAdvisor travelers across the globe.

The other top nine Travellers’ Choice islands in Asia are Bali, Phuket, Koh Samui, Lombok in Indonesia, Koh Lanta, Koh Pha-ngan, Boracay and Parawan in the Philippines and Malaysia’s Langkawi.

Minister of Tourism and Sports Kobkarn Watthanavarangkul said she was thrilled that five of Thailand’s islands have, once again, been featured within the top 10 islands in Asia for the 2015 Traveller’s Choice awards.

Top 10 Travellers’ Choice Islands
World
1. Providenciales, Turks and Caicos
2. Maui, Hawaii
3. Roatan, Honduras
4. Santorini, Greece
5. Ko Tao, Thailand
6. Madeira, Portugal
7. Bali, Indonesia
8. Mauritius, Africa
9. Bora Bora, French Polynesia
10. Fernando de Noronha, Brazil

Top 10 Travellers’ Choice Islands
Asia
1. Ko Tao, Thailand
2. Bali, Indonesia
3. Phuket, Thailand
4. Ko Samui, Thailand
5. Lombok, Indonesia
6. Ko Lanta, Thailand
7. Ko Phangan, Thailand
8. Boracay, Philippines
9. Palawan, Philippines
10. Langkawi, Malaysia

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/koh-tao-named-asias-no-1-island


-- Thai PBS 2015-04-23

[fritzzz25]

Wonder how many proprietors on "Death Island" use this service http://real-tripadvisor-reviews.com/

[EyesWideOpen]

Saw the headline and thought the ranking might have been

for tourist deaths.....Guess this survey must be on a bit of a

time lag.

Edited April 22, 2015 by EyesWideOpen

[ukrules]

I tend refer to it as 'Murder Island' or 'Rape-Murder Island'

Edited April 22, 2015 by ukrules

[HiSoLowSoNoSo]

Can you bribe Tripadvisor to get a better ranking?

[EyesWideOpen]

Wonder how many proprietors on "Death Island" use this service http://real-tripadvisor-reviews.com/

Haha that website is pretty damn funny. Learn something every day,

I had no idea positive reviews could be bought.....

"We offer to post POSITIVE reviews about your establishment on

TripAdvisor, and the good news is, you only pay once the review

has been approved and posted on TripAdvisor.

[NongKhaiKid]

Another report says that half of the island's resorts etc are illegally built so how much will this new found be status be used to ' protect ' the resorts under the guise of maintaining the island's enticing environment that encourages tourists so much ?

[cornishcarlos]

There were reports, around the time of the murders last year, about peoples TripAdvisor accounts being suspended when they posted negative reviews about KT !! Whether there is any truth in that, I don't know but it is not hard to imagine. Only takes a few bucks in the right pockets and voila, you are No.1 in the world

[phuketandsee]

Remember when Tripadvisor shut down the KT page after the recent murders? Someone is definitely getting bought off.

[Prbkk]

Remember when Tripadvisor shut down the KT page after the recent murders? Someone is definitely getting bought off.

Tripadvisor reviews are not verified and anyone can write anything about anywhere, good, bad or indifferent...

[Strangebrew]

Never use there advice found it to be wrong 99% of the time the other 1% outright lies.

Edited April 23, 2015 by Strangebrew

[clockman]

Do not believe everything you read on the web!

[ChrisY1]

Can you bribe Tripadvisor to get a better ranking?

Of course......I'm sure they would accept "donations" !

[alfalfa19]

This would be comical if not for the tragic and heinous events of last year.

[thesetat2013]

Wonder how many proprietors on "Death Island" use this service http://real-tripadvisor-reviews.com/

Being that it claims only 8200 members worldwide I would have to say very few.

[JLCrab]

While the mention to those on this Forum of Koh Tao immediately brings to mind the tragic events of last September 2014, it seems most of those who actually visit the island and post rave reviews remain oblivious.

[smurph]

It's a surprising result, but as this article points out it's a relatively safe place for tourists by Thai standards. - "362 British nationals died in Thailand between April 1, 2013 and March 31, 2014". - http://asiancorrespondent.com/132333/koh-tao-tops-best-asian-islands-list-despite-bad-press-safety-concerns/

[samuibruno]

Remember when Tripadvisor shut down the KT page after the recent murders? Someone is definitely getting bought off.

Tripadvisor reviews are not verified and anyone can write anything about anywhere, good, bad or indifferent...

sorry you are wrong

there are moderators on tripadvisor the same as this thai visa site

so you cannot write freely whatever you want

[Straight8]

Just goes to show, the worse it gets, the more unbelievable it gets.

Some of the most gruesome murders in the space of less than 12 months and it gets the award for No 1 island.. yeah No 1 likely change of getting killed on.

Amazing Thailand.

[bruceybonus]

Remember when Tripadvisor shut down the KT page after the recent murders? Someone is definitely getting bought off.

Tripadvisor reviews are not verified and anyone can write anything about anywhere, good, bad or indifferent...

sorry you are wrong

there are moderators on tripadvisor the same as this thai visa site

so you cannot write freely whatever you want

Yes, it probably has certain words that trigger a moderation. Profanities etc.

[aripengu]

What a joke!

[seahorse]

Wow. Tripadvisor's credibility just took a nosedive as far as I'm concerned.

[boomerangutang]

Perhaps Krabi's islands can get a better rating if they get more rapes and murders. They had a rape (of a Dutch woman) last year, the Thai perp admitted it, then changed his story the next day, and was let off by his local cop buddies. Perhaps with a few more incidents like that, Krabi and Phi Phi can get better ratings.

[gandalf12]

Trip advisor is ok but not if you want actual information. I think this demonstrates this very nicely

[Sydebolle]

TripAdvisor needs to be read with many grains of salt. Anybody can dump his/her opinion on something without the proof of qualification nor ever having been there. Many restaurant owners are being threatened with leaving a nasty comment on TripAdvisor. Some people are impossible to please (one cannot be everybody's darling) and have strange interpretation of product and/or service.
Unlike Agoda or any other product purchasing site TripAdvisor allows anybody to vent their spleen; Agoda requires that the reviewer must have at least purchased the product in order to leave a review.
It is being grossly misused; I've seen restaurants on rank 1 in Pattaya (remember "Froggies" ; upon physical visit I found a hole in the wall which got closed meanwhile and reopened as an Indian delight.
It takes LOTS of writing to get a unjustified review out again and you have to proof the reviewer wrong while the reviewer does not even need to prove their identity.
Koh Tao might have been "jacked up" by order of some TAT boys telling the staff to leave positive reviews. Wonders never seize and mysterious are the ways of the East.

On a different note; what actually happened to the Burmese prisoners who were accused of the double murder?

[phuketandsee]

They are definitely moderated. I have twice tried to post negative reviews of Tiger Kingdom in Phuket and they would not post them. My reviews were no worse than other negative reviews and they refused to explain why my reviews were rejected although they hinted I was "biased." Strange that they want your opinion on a place then reject it as biased. They obviously had a full quota of negative reviews for that place for that month.

[Sydebolle]

Can you bribe Tripadvisor to get a better ranking?

Koh Tao might have been "jacked up" by order of some TAT boys telling the staff to leave positive reviews. Wonders never seize and mysterious are the ways of the East.

Bribing them - how to prove? Honestly though, I don't think so but you can buy positive reviews.

[Sydebolle]

Remember when Tripadvisor shut down the KT page after the recent murders? Someone is definitely getting bought off.

Tripadvisor reviews are not verified and anyone can write anything about anywhere, good, bad or indifferent...

sorry you are wrong

there are moderators on tripadvisor the same as this thai visa site

so you cannot write freely whatever you want

Wrong, as long as you keep the vocabulary right you can dump anything there. You do not have to provide proof of who you are nor if what you write is true based on facts!

[Sparkles]

Remember when Tripadvisor shut down the KT page after the recent murders? Someone is definitely getting bought off.

Tripadvisor reviews are not verified and anyone can write anything about anywhere, good, bad or indifferent...

sorry you are wrong

there are moderators on tripadvisor the same as this thai visa site

so you cannot write freely whatever you want

Not true .my daughter manages a GH in Australia.They had a family book in. The husband was abusive to his wife and kids ,other guests were complaining about the noise. The staff asked him politely to tone it down.Next morning he threw the keys at them,went home and wrote a scathing report which was on Trip Advisor. Approaches were made to Trip Advisor by my daughter with the real story ,they refused to remove the comment. I am surprised that Trip Advisor have not been sued or maybe they have. There might be moderators but they would need an army of them to verify claims and how do you suggest they do that pay a visit to check the dirty linen pool etc ? impossible

[tonysilly]

This has to ba a joke?