Thailand has won the title of ‘Best Tourist Country’ for the 9th year in running from Grand Travel Award, Sweden’s most prestigious tourism industry award, after the Kingdom beat out all other competition at the presentation ceremony held in Stockholm on 16 February 2011.
Travel News, the leading travel magazine in Sweden, has hosted the annual award since 1993. In 2011, 8 countries were nominated for the award of ‘Best Tourist Country’ in 2011, and Thailand came out on top with a score of 8.38, followed by the United States of America (8.19) and Australia (8.18).
Grand Travel Award’s selection process is conducted through a committee of renowned personalities in Sweden’s tourism industry, which is responsible for selecting nominees for the categories under consideration. Tour operators, in turn, vote on the selected nominees based on set criterion such as product and service development, financial management, customers’ perception, and local tourism agencies.
At the presentation ceremony, the Thai Charg? d' Affaires at Stockholm stated that Thailand has succeeded in winning the award for 9 consecutive years due to its cultural uniqueness and overall diversity, in addition to Thailand’s celebrated ‘sun, sea, and sand’, factors which have persuaded Swedish tourists to revisit the Kingdom time and time again. The award could also be attributed to the outstanding performance in promoting Thai tourism by The Royal Thai Embassy and the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s office in Stockholm.
In addition, Thai Airways also ranked 4th place for ‘Best International Flight’ in this year’s awards.
For further information, please contact the Press Division, Department of Information, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tel.02-6435170, Fax.02-6435169, E-mail: div0704@mfa.go.th