Maui falls from top, no longer best isle
Maui falls from top, no longer best isle
By HARRY EAGAR, Staff Writer
Copyright © 2006 The Maui News.
NEW YORK – Maui fell off its perch as the Best Island in the World this week, finishing second to the Maldives, which are not one island but about 200 tiny islets a few hundred miles from Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean.
It’s fortunate that the tourists who read Conde Nast Traveler magazine like the Maldives, because aside from tourism, the only export is a local form of bagoong popular in India. It is also the lowest country in the world – the highest hill is less than 8 feet above sea level – and the government is alarmed that rising sea levels will erase it within a century.
“Unknown places, they’re poppin’,” said Terryl Vencl, executive director of the Maui Visitors Bureau, who was in New York to receive Maui’s award as Best Pacific Island for the 16th straight year. Maui didn’t fall very far – only to second among the world’s best islands, with a score of 90.3, compared with Maldives’ 91.5.
That total score also made Maldives the highest-rated destination in the world in the magazine’s Readers Choice poll. It’s a prize Maui has been accustomed to having. “I yearn to make sure we get it back,” said Vencl.
At the same time, Maldives is not nearly as much competition for Maui as lower-rated but bigger and closer resorts in Mexico and the Caribbean – or even Kauai, which was ranked the second best Pacific island.
The complete list of winners will not be revealed until Conde Nast Traveler’s November issue is on newsstands Tuesday, but Four Seasons Resort Lana’i, The Lodge at Koele was picked by 21,000 readers as the top resort in the Pacific Rim. Don’t rush over yet; the lodge is closed for renovations.
“We are thrilled to be recognized by the savvy readers of Conde Nast Traveler,” said Mark Hellrung, general manager of the resort.
“This is a great way to launch The Lodge (as a Four Seasons resort), and we look forward to celebrating this with our guests in the beautiful upcountry of Lanai.”
The Maldives was not really on Vencl’s radar screen, although she never expected that Maui would lose its top ranking.
Maui has been a Conde Nast favorite since the reader poll began 19 years ago, and when the Best Island in the World category was opened, Maui won 12 years in a row.
Maui also won the more recent Travel?? magazine poll honor for the first eight years before dropping to third best in the world the past three years. “Many destinations are thrilled just to make the list, and we topped it for 12 consecutive years,” said Vencl. “That’s an incredible run.”
In the editors’ comments read at the awards ceremony at the American Museum of Natural History, Vencl said Maldives was singled out as the best among an increasingly popular list of “unknown places,” or as Conde Nast Traveler put it, its lists show an even greater global variety and depth than ever before.
The Maldives receive about half a million tourists a year. The great leap forward by the Maldives, which were mostly underwater in the great tsunami of 2004, just shows how stiff the competition can be, Vencl said. “Being number two is not chump change. We’re still happy to be right up there,” she said.
Maui remains the only contender to finish at the top of its category 19 years in a row. Other Conde Nast Traveler favorites such as Singapore Airlines (top international route airline) and San Francisco (top U.S. city) have won 18 times.
The Lodge at Koele will reopen Nov. 15 after the first phase of a $50 million renovation to go with the rebranding.
Harry Eagar can be reached at heagar@mauinews.com.
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P.S. Download Free Video
Documentary About Maldives
By HARRY EAGAR, Staff Writer
Copyright © 2006 The Maui News.
NEW YORK – Maui fell off its perch as the Best Island in the World this week, finishing second to the Maldives, which are not one island but about 200 tiny islets a few hundred miles from Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean.
It’s fortunate that the tourists who read Conde Nast Traveler magazine like the Maldives, because aside from tourism, the only export is a local form of bagoong popular in India. It is also the lowest country in the world – the highest hill is less than 8 feet above sea level – and the government is alarmed that rising sea levels will erase it within a century.
“Unknown places, they’re poppin’,” said Terryl Vencl, executive director of the Maui Visitors Bureau, who was in New York to receive Maui’s award as Best Pacific Island for the 16th straight year. Maui didn’t fall very far – only to second among the world’s best islands, with a score of 90.3, compared with Maldives’ 91.5.
That total score also made Maldives the highest-rated destination in the world in the magazine’s Readers Choice poll. It’s a prize Maui has been accustomed to having. “I yearn to make sure we get it back,” said Vencl.
At the same time, Maldives is not nearly as much competition for Maui as lower-rated but bigger and closer resorts in Mexico and the Caribbean – or even Kauai, which was ranked the second best Pacific island.
The complete list of winners will not be revealed until Conde Nast Traveler’s November issue is on newsstands Tuesday, but Four Seasons Resort Lana’i, The Lodge at Koele was picked by 21,000 readers as the top resort in the Pacific Rim. Don’t rush over yet; the lodge is closed for renovations.
“We are thrilled to be recognized by the savvy readers of Conde Nast Traveler,” said Mark Hellrung, general manager of the resort.
“This is a great way to launch The Lodge (as a Four Seasons resort), and we look forward to celebrating this with our guests in the beautiful upcountry of Lanai.”
The Maldives was not really on Vencl’s radar screen, although she never expected that Maui would lose its top ranking.
Maui has been a Conde Nast favorite since the reader poll began 19 years ago, and when the Best Island in the World category was opened, Maui won 12 years in a row.
Maui also won the more recent Travel?? magazine poll honor for the first eight years before dropping to third best in the world the past three years. “Many destinations are thrilled just to make the list, and we topped it for 12 consecutive years,” said Vencl. “That’s an incredible run.”
In the editors’ comments read at the awards ceremony at the American Museum of Natural History, Vencl said Maldives was singled out as the best among an increasingly popular list of “unknown places,” or as Conde Nast Traveler put it, its lists show an even greater global variety and depth than ever before.
The Maldives receive about half a million tourists a year. The great leap forward by the Maldives, which were mostly underwater in the great tsunami of 2004, just shows how stiff the competition can be, Vencl said. “Being number two is not chump change. We’re still happy to be right up there,” she said.
Maui remains the only contender to finish at the top of its category 19 years in a row. Other Conde Nast Traveler favorites such as Singapore Airlines (top international route airline) and San Francisco (top U.S. city) have won 18 times.
The Lodge at Koele will reopen Nov. 15 after the first phase of a $50 million renovation to go with the rebranding.
Harry Eagar can be reached at heagar@mauinews.com.
*************************************
P.S. Download Free Video
Documentary About Maldives
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