Asia's leading travel magazine DestinAsian has just announced the list of winners at the 19th Readers' Choice Awards. Unlike many rankings scored by expert councils, this award is decided entirely by the votes of millions of readers around the world.
These are tourists belonging to the high-end segment - businessmen, investors and passionate travel enthusiasts - who are famous for being strict with standards on landscapes, ecosystems, infrastructure and services.
Therefore, appearing in DestinAsian's ranking is seen as a "golden measure" reflecting the level of satisfaction of the group of tourists willing to pay for luxurious vacations after directly experiencing the destination.
In the Best Islands category, Phu Quoc excellently rose to 2nd place in Asia. Looking back at the journey at DestinAsian, Pearl Island marked a remarkable and sustainable step forward when it rose from 6th place in 2024 to 5th place in 2025, and now officially becomes the runner-up in 2026.
This continuous promotion sends a clear message: Phu Quoc is not a "temporary phenomenon", but is maintaining a stable attraction and gradually competing fairly with the leading tourist paradises in the region.
It is not difficult to explain why Phu Quoc can maintain its persistent attraction and conquer the most demanding readers. DestinAsian's experts also did not hesitate to praise the spectacular transformation of this island. Commenting on Phu Quoc's transformation, the prestigious magazine affirmed: "Phu Quoc is the new era of tropical tourism".
That transformation is deeply marked at Hoang Hon Town in the South of the island, which according to DestinAsian, is a place with "landscape, culture and entertainment harmonizing in extraordinary ways". Not only possessing an inspiring architectural system, this place also set an unprecedented record with two multimedia shows with unique fireworks each night, turning Phu Quoc South Island into the center of festival activities throughout and bringing visitors from one surprise to another, from early morning to late at night.
The tourism picture in Phu Quoc is even more complete thanks to symbolic works that go beyond the boundaries of ordinary designs. Typically, the Kiss Bridge, the world's unique non-touch bridge. Along with that is the world's longest 3-wire cable car to Hon Thom island, an experience voted by many international travel websites as the most favorite activity of all tourists when coming to Pearl Island.
Phu Quoc's reach will not be complete without the presence of world-class resort complexes. Also within the framework of the Readers Choice Awards of DestinAsian 2026, Pearl Island's accommodation infrastructure attracted attention in the Best Vietnam Resorts category when contributing up to 5 representatives in the top 10.
The list includes: JW Marriott Phu Quoc Emerald Bay Resort in 3rd place, New World Phu Quoc Resort, going against the tide from 10th place (in 2025) straight to 5th place, Premier Village Phu Quoc Resort in 7th place and finally Regent Phu Quoc ranked 9th. Perhaps, if Indonesia has Bali known as a resort island, then Vietnam also has Phu Quoc with a similar title.
More than just a title, the series of achievements at DestinAsian in 2026 is becoming an important milestone in Phu Quoc's journey of reaching out. The continuous rise in rankings voted by global readers shows that the attractiveness of Pearl Island comes not only from its natural landscape, but also from an increasingly complete tourism ecosystem - a resort, entertainment, architecture and experience connected in the same destination.
When APEC 2027 chooses Phu Quoc as the host destination, the world's attention to this island will certainly be even greater. And with the current development momentum, Pearl Island is not only remembered as a beautiful beach of Asia, but is gradually shaping itself as a new symbol of modern tropical tourism in the region.
