THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Tourism has bagged two top honours at the prestigious Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Awards for this year.
The state Tourism Department’s Responsible Tourism initiative in Kumarakom and its hugely popular online newsletter have won the PATA Gold Awards, said an announcement from the Macau Government Tourism Office, which supports and sponsors the awards.
Kumarakom Responsible Tourism Project won in the Corporate Social Responsibility category while Kerala Tourism e-Newsletter received the recognition in the Marketing Media section.
This is the second consecutive PATA Gold award for the Kerala Tourism e-Newsletter, which is designed and developed by Invis Multimedia. There are 20 winners of the PATA Awards this year, selected from 181 entries from 66 organisations and individuals worldwide.
“We are proud of this top international honour which will inspire us to continue our efforts in rural tourism development and also take the brand of Kerala far and wide,” said Tourism Minister A P Anilkumar.
The awards will be presented on September 19 at the Diamond Island City Hall in Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh.
“We were lucky to be the first Tourism Board in the country to take advantage of the internet technology to reach a global audience” said Kerala Tourism Secretary Suman Billa. Kerala Tourism e-Newsletter, currently has a worldwide subscription of over 90,000.