A prestigious US travel magazine has voted Malaysia as the world's best tourism destination of 2006.

The award was a result of a poll undertaken by Global Traveler Magazine, a monthly published from Pennsylvania.

This accolade comes just as the year-long Visit Malaysia Year 2007 gets underway and has put a big smile in the faces of Tourism Malaysia officials.

"Naturally, Tourism Malaysia is proud to receive the award which also confirms that our pre-publicity for the Visit Malaysia Year 2007 was a success," said Tourism Malaysia director Azizan Noordin in an interview with Bernama.

Azizan was in New York yesterday to receive the award in the presence of a large gathering of airline representatives, tour and travel operators, tourism consultants and the media.

"This award coincides not only with the Visit Malaysia Year 2007 but also with the 50th anniversary of our independence," he pointed out.

According to a Bernama report, the magazine, which caters for executive travellers, has a paid circulation of 60,055.

The extensive poll, the third such annual survey by Global Traveler, was conducted amongst its readers between Feb 1, 2006 and Aug 31, 2006, addressed open-ended questions for the best in 42 categories.

A total of 13,653 completed questionnaires were received by the magazine from its readers.

The questionnaires, stretching to a total of six pages, were made available as an insert in the subscriber copies of the magazine and online at the Global Traveler Magazine's website.

Big achievement

According to the magazine, survey respondents spent a mean number of 61 nights last year on international business trips and 76 nights on domestic business trips. They took an average of 18 international flights and 21 domestic flights per person during that period.

Of all respondents, 76 per cent were male and 24 per cent were female; average age was 45.

Azizan said that receiving such an award from a US-based magazine was a "big achievement".

"Our media and advertising efforts are paying dividends now. The award also is a testimonial that Malaysia is now making a mark in the international arena," he added.

Runners up to Malaysia were Singapore, Hong Kong, Italy, Indonesia (Bali), Hawaii, Thailand (Phuket), South Africa, Fiji and Australia.