Cebu, Boracay cited in China travel awards

CEBU, Philippines – Amid the criticism that the country has received over the botched hostage rescue in Manila last month, Cebu and Boracay here in the Visayas have been cited recently in a China travel awards.

The Department of Foreign Affairs website has recently quoted Philippine Ambassador to China Francisco Benedicto as reporting that both the islands of Cebu and Boracay won the Best Travel and Leisure Destination (short haul ) Award in the recently concluded Travel Weekly China Travel and Meetings Industry Awards online voting competition.

The competition was organized by Travel Weekly China, a leading travel industry trade publication in China. The awards are aimed to recognize the best enterprises in China 's travel, meeting and incentive industry.

The award was accepted by Tourism Undersecretary Vicente Romano III in a ceremony held in Beijing on August 30.

Benedicto said the nominees for the awards were chosen by a panel of judges composed of travel and tourism industry executives and professionals.   The nominees were then posted online since June 2010 and 800,000 netizens from the Chinese tourism and meetings industry voted on their choices.

This year's winners are the following: Best Leisure Destination - Li jiang, China; Best Travel & Leisure Destination (short haul) - Cebu and Boracay, Philippines; Best Travel & Leisure Destination (long haul) - United Kingdom; Best Ecological Destination - Norway; and Best Resort Destination - Gold Coast, Australia.

Since its debut in 2002, this event has won recognition from the industry for its fairness, transparency and creativity. (FREEMAN)