India was the proud owner of three prestigious awards at an international travel mart ceremony held in Macau recently on the 17th of September, 2010. The Ministry for Tourism bagged the prizes for its eco-tourism and rural projects.
The splendid function was held by PATA – Pacific Asia Travel Association. PATA, founded in 1951, is a nonprofit membership association that works for the development and betterment of the Asia Pacific travel and tourism industry. Every year, the PATA Travel Mart gathers tourism stakeholders from around the world to network and seek business opportunities. PATA’s membership boasts more than 100 government, state and city tourism bodies, over 50 airlines and cruise lines, and hundreds of travel industry companies.
Our Ministry of Tourism has won the PATA Grand Award and two PATA Gold Awards. The Grand Award was under the category of Heritage, received for the Rural Tourism Project at Hodka village in Kutch District of Gujarat; while the Gold Awards were allotted for marketing of the products in an innovative manner.
About the Gujarat project, the organizers said: “The scale of this project is very welcome and could have major positive impacts on the community.” The project that won the Grand Award is managed as well as owned by the Village Tourism Committee of the people of Hodka village. The place is basically a rural resort that boasts of a scenic surrounding. It is a blend of all the latest and modern facilities and is amidst the natural surroundings of Kutch. Here, the art and craft of the local villagers are sold, this provides livelihood to a number of local people.
The two Gold Awards were given for the Marketing Media – Travel Advertisements in the Print Media and the Marketing of the Government Destinations. The Eco-tourism Marketing Campaign, which won India, the Gold Award under Primary Government Destination was judged as an “Excellent Objective”. The idea of targeting the World Climate Summit held in Copenhagen was considered innovative to contribute to the Summit’s Debate.
The award function took place at Macau Government Tourist Office. The three day event was attended by over a thousand buyer and seller delegates from across the globe. The awards were handed over by the Chairman, CEO and Director of PATA. The Grand Award for India was received by R H Khwaja, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, who headed the Indian delegation and Anand Kumar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, received the two Gold Awards.
Every year, the PATA Travel Mart gathers tourism stakeholders from around the world to network and seek business opportunities. And a fourth award for India is that the Travel Mart 2011 will be held in Delhi in September.
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Aditi Rindani 