Thailand was named the Best Beach Destination 2015 from National Geographic Traveller Russia, a print and online magazine, according to Tourism Authority of Thailand.
Thailand was also voted the Best Beach Resort via an online poll from 240,000 readers.
"Thailand is very honoured to have received such prestigious awards from one of the top travel magazines in Russia as well as to have been voted online by its readers. Both honours are testaments of Thailand as a top beach getaway destination among travellers from Russia, one of the top 10 tourist markets to Thailand," said Eumporn Jiragalwisul, director of Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) Moscow Office.
In 2014, Thailand welcomed about 1.6 million visitors from Russia. In 2015, from January to October, a total of 649,188 visitors from Russia have visited Thailand.
Travellers from Russia are attracted to Thailand's beach resorts including Phuket, Pattaya and Koh Samui. Apart from daily direct flights from Moscow to key gateways in Thailand, several charter flights are available during the winter season from various cities in Russia and the CIS, allowing travellers from this region to experience the nice and warm weather in Thailand.
National Geographic Traveller Russia is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. Published five times per year, the magazine has a circulation of 110,000 and a total readership of 746,800. It is also available in an iPad-version.
Thailand was presented as one of the nominees in the category of Beach Leisure, and got the award with 14 per cent. There were 26 competitors, including Spain (12 per cent), Philippines (10 per cent), Azerbaijan (9 per cent), Greece (7 per cent), and Montenegro (6 per cent).
Chiang Mai, Bangkok, and Phuket were recently voted among the 20 most popular and best value cities in Asia by US travellers, according to TripAdvisor's TripIndex report.