PATWA International Travel Awards celebrate travel trade excellence at ITB Berlin
The revered PATWA International Travel Awards returned to ITB Berlin once again. The awards have celebrated the finest and most innovative offerings in travel and tourism in the Pacific area since 1999, with awards for aviation, hotels, destinations, travel agencies and tour operators, as well as recognition for tourism ministries and government bodies.
The PATWA International Travel Awards are organised by the Pacific Area Travel Writers Association, and the event is attended by over 7,000 journalists and trade professionals from more than 180 countries.
There was a broad variety of award-winners this year, from forward-thinking hotels to innovative sustainable tourism offerings.
Taking home the PATWA award for Best Vintage Hotel was Claridges in New Dehli, India. The unique hotel honours the past, paying tribute to the mid-20th century with no detail spared.
Tamara Leisure Experiences was named the Best Boutique Hotel Chain, rewarded for its high-end properties across India, including the five-star flagship O by Tamara hotel in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
The Best Contemporary Hotel Chain award was given to Trance Hotels, which puts well-being at the centre of its contemporary hospitality offerings, while the award for Best Hotel Chain was given to Roseate Hotels and Resorts.
In the Destinations and Countries category, West Bengal in India was celebrated as the Best State, Tamil Nadu in India was named Destination of the Year, while the Balkan Region in Zimbabwe received the award for Destination of the Year for Natural Beauty. The award for Destination of the Year for Sustainable Tourism went to Georgia.
Winnie Muchanyuka of the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority was named Best Professional in Destination Management, one of the many prizes in the individual awards category. The award for Best Professional in Hospitality went to Vikram Aditya Singh for his work with Claridges, while V.M Manoj Mathew of Tamara Leisure Experiences took home the award for Best Professional in Hospitality Operations.
The revered CEO of the Year for Hotels prize was given to Anuraag Bhatnagar for his leadership of the Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts. Managing Director and Senior Area VP of South Asia at the Radisson Hotel Group, Zubin Saxena, received the award for Professional of the Year in Hotels, and Kush Kapoor, CEO of Roseate Hotels and Resorts, took home the Leadership Honour award for Hospitality Operations.
Ranjit Phillipose was named International Achiever in Hospitality thanks to his work with the Indian Hotels Company, Veer Vijay Singh of Trance Hotels and Resorts received the Leadership Honour for Excellence in Hospitality, Rohit Khosla, Executive Vice President of IHCL, took home the Leadership Honour for Hotel Operations, Prabhat Verma of IHCL received the Leadership Honour for Hospitality Management and CEO of Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces Puneet Chhatwal was named Person of the Year in Hospitality.
Alain St. Ange received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Promotion of the Travel Trade and H.E. Edmund Bartlett CD was given the Lifetime Achievement Award for Promotion of Sustainable Tourism.
H. E. Thiru K Ramachandran received the award for Tourism Minister of the Year for India, H. E. Nqobizitha Mangaliso Ndlovu was named Tourism Minister of the Year for Africa, H. E. Ilin Dimitrov was given the award for Tourism Minister of the Year for the Balkan Region and to conclude H. E. Fatima Al Sairafi was named Woman Tourism Minister of the Year.
