MANILA, Philippines - Boracay took a backseat as it slipped a notch from being the best island in the world last year, but Filipinos have no reason to be disappointed as another Philippine destination emerged out of nowhere to claim the top spot for 2013.
Palawan led nine other islands in Travel and Leisure magazine's Top 10 Islands for 2013, after garnering the most number of votes from readers all over the world. It was not included in the list last year.
The runaway winner beat Boracay; Maui in Hawaii; Santorini in Greece; Prince Edward Island in Canada; Bali in Indonesia; Kauai in Hawaii; Sicily in Italy; Koh Samui in Thailand and Galapagos in Ecuador.
From Dec. 1, 2012 to April 1 this year, respondents of the magazine's World's Best Awards survey were asked to rate based on hotels, cities, islands, cruise ships, tour operators and safari outfitters, airlines, airports and car-rental agencies.
"To protect the integrity of the data, after April 1, 2013, respondents were screened by Travel + Leisure and responses from any identified travel-industry professionals who completed the survey were eliminated from the final tally. The survey website, tlworldsbest.com, was maintained, monitored, and kept secure by ROI Research Inc., which collected and tabulated the responses and kept them confidential," the magazine explained.