For the seventh consecutive year, Bali has been selected as Asia’s Most Romantic Destination at the 32nd annual World Travel Awards (WTA), which took place in Hong Kong on Monday, the 13th of October, 2025.
The category Asia’s Most Romantic Destination 2025 consisted of three regions: Bali (Indonesia), Ko Samui (Thailand), and Siem Reap (Cambodia). Bali was crowned the winner, marking the island’s seventh consecutive victory in this category. Additionally, Bali received another recognition as Asia’s Leading Wedding Destination 2025, surpassing Cebu (the Philippines), Ko Samui (Thailand), and Langkawi (Malaysia).
At this year’s WTA, Bali was also nominated in the categories World’s Leading Island Destination 2025, World’s Leading Wedding Destination 2025, World’s Most Romantic Destination 2025, and Asia’s Leading Regional Tourist Board 2025.
On WTA’s official website, Graham Cooke, the founder of the awards, said, “It has been a privilege to host our Asia & Oceania Gala Ceremony 2025 in Hong Kong – one of the world’s most iconic destinations. Tonight [Monday, the 13th of October], we have celebrated the leading lights of travel across Asia and Oceania. Our winners represent the very best in tourism excellence, and I congratulate everyone for raising the benchmark of achievement across this remarkable region.”
WTA was established in 1993 to acknowledge, reward, and celebrate excellence across all sectors of the tourism industry. Today, the WTA brand is recognised globally as the ultimate hallmark of quality, with winners setting the benchmark to which all others aspire. Each year, WTA spans the globe with a series of regional gala ceremonies staged to recognise and celebrate individual and collective success within each key geographical region.
According to the official WTA website, the judging method for the awards event is based on votes cast by industry professionals. These professionals include senior executives, travel buyers, tour and travel operators, the general public, and the media. Voting is conducted using a “first-past-the-post” system, whereby the nominee with the most votes in a category is declared the winner.
WTA’s next awards ceremony, celebrating tourism in the European continent, is scheduled to take place in Sardinia, Italy, on Wednesday, 22nd of October.