PATA announces Grand and Gold Awards winners 2017

By Anthony Tan 

VIRGIN Communications 

email: anthonykhtan@yahoo.co.uk

The winners of the 2017 PATA Grand and Gold Awards were announced by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) on July 27 in Bangkok.

These awards are generously supported and sponsored since 1995 by the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) and this year which recognised the achievements of 28 separate organisations and individuals.

The awards ceremony will takes place in Macao SAR on Friday, September 15 during PATA Travel Mart 2017. The 31 Grand and Gold Awards will be presented to such organisations as Accor Hotels Asia Pacific, Hotel ICON, Korea Tourism Organization, Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi, Air China, Cox and Kings, Guam Visitors Bureau and Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority.

Ms Helena de Senna Fernandes

Director of the Macao Government 

Tourism Office

Ms Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, Director of the Macao Government Tourism Office said, “I extend our heartfelt congratulations to all the winners and our thanks to all those that entered this year’s Awards programme. The successful achievements of the winning tourism organisations and individuals reinforce the basic tenets of sustainable tourism development whilst seeking to achieve higher goals such as poverty reduction. It will be a particular honour and pleasure to host this year’s awards ceremony in Macao.” 

Dr. Mario Hardy, PATA CEO, added, “On behalf of PATA, I would like to extend our warmest congratulations to all 2017 Grand and Gold Award winners. This is no better time and place to celebrate their accomplishments, than this International Year for Sustainable Tourism for Development in Macao SAR during the 40th Anniversary of PATA Travel Mart. I look forward to celebrating this year’s winners who represent the values of the Association in working towards a more responsible travel and tourism industry in the Asia Pacific region.” 

The PATA Grand Awards are presented to outstanding entries in four principal categories: Marketing; Education and Training; Environment, and Heritage and Culture.

Dr Mario Hardy - PATA CEO

Hotel ICON, Hong Kong SAR will receive the 2017 PATA Grand Award for Education and Training for its ‘Being Brilliant Together’. Hotel ICON inspires mentors and educates the next generation of Asian hospitality experts. The work-integrated programmes at the hotel cater for students of all levels, regardless of whether the participant is a bachelor degree or master degree student. The programmes also emphasise inventive-based learning that creates outstanding ambassadors for the region’s tourism industry in ‘Unlike Any Other Internship’ and ‘Elite Management Programme’.

The Environmental award will be presented to Accor Hotels Asia Pacific for its ‘Drive the Change towards Positive Hospitality. Accor Hotels’ second five-year (2016-2020) plan for Planet 21 goes further in committing to even more stringent reductions in carbon, energy and water as well as a range of commitments around the reduction of food waste, working positively with local communities and moving towards carbon neutral buildings for all new hotels.

The Heritage and Culture Award will be awarded to Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi. Located just a few steps from the Opera House in Hanoï’s French Quarter this legendary property brings guests into intimate contact with the opulence of another era. The hotel is one of the region’s few remaining hotels of its area. 

 The Marketing Award will be presented to the Korea Tourism Organization for its ‘Korea Visits You’. The inventive marketing campaign encouraged users to generate content on their social networking sites and leverage that content to provide more travel information about the destination.  

PATA Gold Award 2017

Heritage and Culture – Heritage

Langkawi UNESCO Global Geopark

Langkawi Development Authority (LADA), Malaysia

 

PATA GRAND AWARDS 2017
	Category	Title	Winner	Country
1	Education and Training	Being Brilliant Together	Hotel ICON	Hong Kong SAR
2	Environment	Drive the Change Towards Positive Hospitality	ACCORHOTELS	ASIA PACIFIC
3	Heritage and Culture		Sofitel Legend Metropole	Hanoi, Vietnam
4	Marketing	Korea Visits You	Korea Tourism Organisation	South Korea

PATA GOLD AWARDS 2017
	Category	Title	Winner	Country
1	Marketing – Primary Government Destination	Best of All, It’s in Hong Kong New Brand Campaign	Hong Kong Tourism Board	Hong Kong SAR
2	Marketing – Secondary Government Destination	Just Another Day in WA	Tourism Western Australia	Australia
3	Marketing – Carrier		Air China	Taiwan
4	Marketing – Hospitality	Hunan TV’s Reality Show Up Idol II at Melco Resorts	Melco Resorts & Entertainment	Macao SAR
5	Marketing – Industry	Eastern Sunrise Spectacular Show	Rizhao, Shandong Province, China ECA2	France
6	Marketing – Young Travellers	USS Halloween Horror Nights 6	Resorts World at Sentosa,	Singapore
7	Environment – Ecotourism Project		Elephant Hills Luxury Tented Camps	Thailand
8	Environment – Corporate Environmental Programme	Sands ECO360 Global Sustainability Program	Sands China Ltd (Macao SAR)	Macao SAR
9	Environment – Environment Education Programme	Jingzaijiao Tile-paved Salt Fields Tourism Bureau,	Chinese Taipei	Taiwan
10	CSR	Village to the World	Tourism Authority of Thailand	Thailand
11	Heritage and Culture – Heritage	Langkawi UNESCO Global Geopark	Langkawi Development Authority (LADA)	Malaysia
12	Heritage and Culture – Culture	Muay Thai Live Bangkok	Thai Show 2013 Co., Ltd	Thailand
13	Education and Training	Educating, transferring skills and knowledge, creating awareness and training on sustainability	The Frangipani Langkawi Resort and Spa	Malaysia
14	Marketing Media – Travel Advertisement Broadcast Media	The Parisian Macao Grand Opening	Sands China Ltd (Macao SAR)	China
15	Marketing Media – Travel Advertisement Print Media	Go Beyond	Ministry of Tourism, Government of India	India
16	Marketing Media – Consumer Travel Brochure Film Tourism Brochure		Kerala Tourism	India
17	Marketing Media – Promotional E-Newsletter	Island Diaries	Jetwing Travels	Sri Lanka
18	Marketing Media – Travel Poster	International Trade 2016 Posters	Tourism Malaysia	Malaysia
19	Marketing Media – Public Relations Campaign	It’s more fun in the Philippines	Beautiful Destinations USA	Philippines
20	Marketing Media – Social Media	Forever Young	Cox and Kings	India
21	Marketing Media – Mobile Travel Application	2016 Shop Guam e-Festival Mobile Campaign	Guam Visitors Bureau
22	Marketing Media – Promotional Travel Video	Ras Al Khaimah: Beyond A Journey	Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority	UAE
23	Marketing Media – Web Site	Best of all, it’s in Hong Kong’ Campaign Site Entry	Hong Kong Tourism Board	Hong Kong SAR
24	Travel Journalism – Destination Article	Go Slow in the Solomons	Christine Retschlag Wellbeing Magazine	Australia
25	Travel Journalism – Business Article	Sri Lanka – Enlightened Serendipity	Arnie Weissmann Travel Weekly, December 12, 2016 Northstar Travel Group,	USA
26	Travel Journalism – Travel Photograph	Thin Fish Drying, Indonesia	Chue Ardi Colours Garuda In-flight magazine, September 2016 Agency Fish	Indonesia
27	Travel Journalism – Travel Guidebook	Blue Paradise Thailand	Tourism Authority of Thailand	Thailand