Bangkok, 8 June, 2015 – Three of Bangkok’s most famous landmarks were voted among the top 10 in Asia by travellers on the popular website TripAdvisor. The Reclining Buddha in Wat Pho, the Grand Palace, and the Temple of Dawn rated highly in a list of 25 landmark attractions in the site’s prestigious Traveller’s Choice Awards for 2015. In total, four Bangkok landmarks were listed among the top 20.
View of The Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew, Bangkok.
In the TripAdvisor listings, the Reclining Buddha in Wat Pho, also known as Wat Phra Chettuphon, was fourth on the list of Asia’s 25 best landmarks, while the Grand Palace took sixth place. The symbol of Bangkok, Wat Arun (also known as the Temple of Dawn) came ninth in the rankings, while Wat Phra Kaew (or the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, located within the Grand Palace) was listed at 15.
The Traveller’s Choice Awards are based on millions of reviews, opinions and rankings of the website’s 60 million members. Many TripAdvisor members expressed the view that if tourists had not seen these important landmarks, they had not really experienced Bangkok.
The Reclining Buddha in Wat Pho was fourth on the list.
Mrs. Juthaporn Rerngronasa, Acting Governor and Deputy Governor for International Marketing – Europe, Africa, Middle East and Americas, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) said, “The fact that that three of Bangkok’s most famous landmarks have been voted among the Top 10 in Asia by TripAdvisor’s discerning travellers is testament to the on-going popularity of the Thai capital. People come here to enjoy the unique Thai artistry that went into making these glittering landmarks and now, thanks to our 2015 Discover Thainess campaign, they can enjoy other aspects of our culture, such as food, wellness festivals and the irrepressible joviality of the local people too.”
The top 25 listings in Asia are those that got the highest reviews from members of the TripAdvisor site. Bangkok’s landmarks rank among those in other Asia’s top destinations such as Cambodia’s Angkor Wat, which took first place and India’s Taj Mahal, which came second.
The high listing in TripAdvisor’s TopLandmarks is just one of many new accolades for Bangkok, which came second with 18.24 million annual visitors, just below London, which took first place with 18.82 million visitors, according to MasterCard Global Destinations Cities Index for 2015 released earlier this week. (Read more: Bangkok remains 2nd top global city destination, 1st in Asia-Pacific, says MasterCard index)
TripAdvisor is the world’s largest travel site with nearly 280 million unique monthly visitors. A 2014 survey found that the website was the most widely recognised and trusted travel website with over 170 million reviews and reader opinions of international attractions, hotels, restaurants, and other travel-related businesses.
