Last weekend, travel and tourism professionals gathered at the InterContinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort in Vietnam to celebrate and honor the best of tourism options in Asia and Australasia. The winners of the World Travel Awards Asia and Australasia were selected through a voting system that included both industry players, such as tour operators and corporate types, and the general public.

This time around, New Zealand’s Queenstown and Malaysia came out as the top destinations of Australasia and Asia, respectively. Queenstown was a clear favorite this year as a waterfront city that also boasts a majestic mountainous backdrop. Malaysia on the other hand, beat out Macau, Singapore, and Thailand as the top Asian destination. Given the mourning period in Thailand, this was a lucky choice! 

For the airlines category, the Asia winner was Hainan while Air New Zealand flew the flag for Australasia. Here are the other major winners of the night:

Asia

• Asia’s leading beach destination: Philippines
• Leading boutique hotel: The Sarojin, Thailand
• Leading city break destination: Hong Kong
• Leading hotel brand: InterContinental Hotels & Resorts
• Leading luxury hotel: The Peninsula Hong Kong
• Leading hotel: The Oberoi Udaivilas, India
• Leading new resort: Studio City Macau
• Leading resort: Four Seasons Resort Bali at Sayan, Indonesia
• Australasia

• Leading hotel: The Hotel Windsor, Melbourne, Australia
• Leading resort: Pacific Resort Aitutaki, Cook Islands
• Leading romantic resort: The Remote Resort, Fiji Islands
• Leading boutique hotel: Gaia Retreat & Spa, Australia
• Winners of the World Travel Awards of Asia and Australasia will qualify for the World Travel Awards finale, which will be held December 2 at Maldives.