VIJAYAWADA: Vijayawada received five awards in the field of tourism, given by the State government. The awards were presented by Tourism Minister Muttamsetty Srinivas Rao, who was accompanied by Andhra Pradesh Tourism Authority (APTA) CEO Pravin Kumar, at the State Awards for Excellence event held to celebrate the World Tourism Day at Tummallapalli Kalakshetram, here on Saturday.
Around 30 awards were announced in three categories, namely travel, tourism and hospitality, and presented to various stakeholders in the tourism sector.
While Best Hotel/Classified Hotel (5 star category) award was presented to The Gateway Hotel, Novotel Vijayawada Varun won the award for Best Hotel-based Meeting Venue.
Best Stand-alone Restaurant award was presented to Oriental Pavillion, Best Travel Agent award went to Travel Home and the prize for Most Innovative Inbound Tour Operator was presented to Southern Travels Pvt Ltd.
Visakhaptnam proved to be the star among the awardees by claiming the maximum number of awards. While the steel city bagged nine awards, Chittoor bagged five, West Godavari won three, Anantapur got two, and Kadapa, East Godavari, Amaravati and Vizianagaram had to settle with one each.
Speaking on the occasion, the Tourism Minister said, “I am happy to see that the State is progressing at such a fast pace. I hope these awards will encourage them to reach greater heights.”
Various cultural events, such as annamacharya keertanam, nimmalakunta puppet show, laser beam show and sand art, Kuchipudi fusion performance by Sravya Manasa group, UV act by a group from Mumbai, were organised at the event.