Malaysia Wins Four Pacific Asia Travel Association Gold Awards 2018

By Anthony Tan

VIRGIN Communications 

email: anthonykhtan@yahoo.co.uk
  

The PATA Gold Awards recognise exceptional achievement in a variety of endeavours, acknowledging and rewarding the very best that the Asia Pacific’s travel industry has to offer.  

This year’s awards attracted 200 entries from 87 organisations and individuals worldwide. The 34 winners were selected by an independent judging committee consisting of 14 senior executives from the travel, tourism and hospitality sectors.

These awards generously supported and sponsored since 1995 by the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) this year recognise the achievements of 27 separate organisations and individuals.  

The awards ceremony will take place in Langkawi, Malaysia on September 14 during PATA Travel Mart 2018.
  

The 34 Grand and Gold Awards will be presented to organisations such as Langkawi Development Authority, Tourism Malaysia, AirAsia and The Frangipani Langkawi Resort & Spa, all four from Malaysia. 
 

The Iconic Eagle of Langkawi Islands Located at Dataran Lang at Kuah

Other winners include the Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi, UAE; Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB); Jetwing Hotels Ltd, Sri Lanka; Kerala Tourism, India; Marianas Visitors Authority; Melco Resorts and Entertainment, Macao; DMC, India; Amadeus Asia Ltd, Thailand; and Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT). 

This year’s awards attracted 200 entries from 87 organisations and individuals worldwide. See full list below.

Maria Helena de Fernandes, 

MGTO Director

MGTO director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes said, “This year’s PATA Gold Awards winners present us with yet another wide array of remarkable accomplishments in the different branches of the tourism industry. 

“MGTO is honoured to help facilitate this PATA awards programme, which for the past over two decades has been bringing into the limelight so many exceptional contributions, inspiring tourism stakeholders throughout the Asia Pacific region to build a vibrant whilst sustainable tourism industry.” 
    

Dr Mario Hardy, PATA CEO, remarked, “This year’s winners exemplify the true values of the association in working towards a more responsible travel and tourism industry in Asia Pacific. I look forward to celebrating all of their accomplishments at the PATA Gold Awards Luncheon and Presentation at PATA Travel Mart 2018 in Langkawi.”

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

Amphawa Canal Community, Samut Songkhram Province, Thailand

TAT will receive the 2018 PATA Grand Award for Education and Training for its King’s Wisdom for Sustainable Tourism project, a collaboration between TAT and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Thailand.

  

Dr Mario Hardy 

PATA CEO

It uses the principles of His Majesty the Late King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s “sufficiency economy philosophy” in its work towards four primary objectives.

They are to be able to continue working on the king’s principle to restore local wisdom and promote sustainable tourism, stimulate domestic tourism, create value in the tourist areas in order to increase revenue, promote human resources development and strengthen the community to think and do by themselves leading to sustainable development. 
  

Thai Traditional Dance

The Environmental award will be presented to Elephant Hills Luxury Tented Camps, Thailand for their various activities, including its Elephant Conservation Project, Children’s Project and Wildlife Monitoring Project. 

They also organise a smaller project, CO2 offset, to seek ways to reduce their carbon footprint. 

The Heritage and Culture Award will be awarded to the HKTB for its ‘Art is Everywhere’ project. 

Two talented artists collaborated on the photography project, which showcased the hidden art gems in HK. 
 

The Iconic Double-Decker Trams of Hong Kong

The project was the first time for an Asian destination organisation to initiate a photography project designed to focus on promoting art scenes, collaborate with a US photographer and professional dancers for social media promotion, and raise awareness of Arts month and local cultural hubs, creating conversations on social media among local and international art lovers.

The Marketing Award will also be presented to the HKTB for  its 'HongKong Neighbourhoods: Old Town Central' campaign. 

To raise awareness and encourage visitors to explore the dynamic district of Central and Sheung Wan, HKTB repackaged the area into ‘Old Town Central (OTC)’.

Instead of creating an advertising campaign to talk about OTC, they created an immersive experience by featuring the characteristics of the area and developed a strategic model to guide travellers all the way from ‘I have never heard of Old Town Central’ to ‘I enjoy walking around Old Town Central’ with the ultimate goal of inviting them to go deeper into the area and learn something new about HK.

AirAsia has been named the World's Best Low-Cost Airline 2018 by SKYTRAX for the 10th year in a row and will add another feather on the cap by winning PATA Gold Award 2018 - Marketing - Carrier Adventure Live   

Full List PATA Gold Awards 2018.
  

PATA GRAND AWARDS 2018 

      1.    PATA Grand Award 2018

             Education and Training

              King’s Wisdom for Sustainable Tourism
            TAT

2.   PATA Grand Award 2018

             Environment

             Elephant Hills Luxury Tented Camps, Thailand

3.   PATA Grand Award 2018

      Heritage and Culture

             Art is Everywhere

             HKTB

4.   PATA Grand Award 2018

Marketing

Hong Kong Neighbourhoods: Old Town Central

HKTB  

  

PATA Gold Awards 2018

    1.     PATA Gold Award 2018

            Marketing – Primary Government Destination

            Amazing Green Thailand: A’maze 2017

            TAT

     2.    PATA Gold Award 2018

            Marketing – Secondary Government Destination 

            Your Extraordinary Story 

            Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi, UAE

     3.    PATA Gold Award 2018

            Marketing – Carrier
            Adventure
            AirAsia, Malaysia 
     
      4.     PATA Gold Award 2018

Marketing – Hospitality

Studio City Dinosaur Hunt

Melco Resorts and Entertainment, Macao

5.     PATA Gold Award 2018

Marketing – Industry

Mekong Moments

Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office, Thailand

6.     PATA Gold Award 2018

Marketing – Young Travellers

My Hong Kong Buddy

HKTB

7.     PATA Gold Award 2018

Marketing – Adventure Travel

Difference Aside Reality Show

Langkawi Development Authority, Malaysia

8.     PATA Gold Award 2018

Environment – Corporate Environmental Programme

The Essence of Our Being

Jetwing Hotels Ltd, Sri Lanka

9.     PATA Gold Award 2018

Environment – Ecotourism Project

Cinnamon Elephant Project

Cinnamon Hotels and Resorts, Sri Lanka

10.    PATA Gold Award 2018

Environment – Environmental Education Programme

300 Ways to Save – Green Practices

The Frangipani Langkawi Resort & Spa, Malaysia

11.  PATA Gold Award 2018

Corporate Social Responsibility

Making Great Moment to the Community

MGM, Macao

12.  PATA Gold Award 2018

Women Empowerment Initiative

Empowering Women through Inclusive Work

PEAK DMC, India

13.  PATA Gold Award 2018

Heritage

India Heritage Walk Festival

Sahapedia, India

14.  PATA Gold Award 2018

Culture

Online Campaign 2017: 6 Senses of Local Experience in Thailand

TAT

15.  PATA Gold Award 2018

Community-Based Tourism

Local Alike, Thailand

16.  PATA Gold Award 2018

Education and Training

The Official Marianas Guide

Marianas Visitors Authority

17.  PATA Gold Award 2018

Marketing Media – Travel Advertisement Broadcast Media

Holidays Bring You Closer

SOTC Travel LTD, India

18.  PATA Gold Award 2018

Marketing Media – Travel Advertisement Print Media

Yalla Kerala Campaign

Kerala Tourism, India

19.  PATA Gold Award 2018

Marketing Media – Travel Brochure

Experiential Showcase of the Indian Journeys

Cox and Kings, India

20.  PATA Gold Award 2018

Marketing Media – E-Newsletter

Experience Malaysia

Tourism Malaysia

21.  PATA Gold Award 2018

Marketing Media – Travel Poster

Live Inspired Campaign

Kerala Tourism, India

22.  PATA Gold Award 2018

Marketing Media – Public Relations Campaign

Journey of Me by Amadeus

Amadeus Asia Ltd, Thailand

23.  PATA Gold Award 2018

Marketing Media – Social Media

InstaGUAM

Guam Visitors Bureau

24.  PATA Gold Award 2018

Marketing Media – Mobile Travel Application

Visit Korea: Official Guide

Korea Tourism Organisation

25.  PATA Gold Award 2018

Marketing Media – Travel Video

Uncommon Experience

The Ultimate Travelling Camp, India

26.  PATA Gold Award 2018

Marketing Media – Website

My Hong Kong Buddy

HKTB

27.  PATA Gold Award 2018

Travel Journalism – Destination Article

Angkor Away, Holidays with Kids, April 2017

Aleney de Winter

28.  PATA Gold Award 2018

Travel Journalism – Industry Business Article

The Technology Experience, TTGmice, June 2017

Karen Yue, TTG Asia Media Pte Ltd

29.  PATA Gold Award 2018

Travel Journalism – Travel Photograph

Cruising through the Cave

TAT

30.  PATA Gold Award 2018

Travel Journalism – Travel Guidebook

An Interactive Guide to Angkor

Dougald O’Reilly

KL International Airport Wins Double Awards At Routes Asia 2018

By Anthony Tan

VIRGIN Communications  

email: anthonykhtan@yahoo.co.uk

 

Overall Winner: KL International Airport

Malaysia Airports’ significant contribution to the growth of the Malaysian aviation industry was acknowledged when KL International Airport (KLIA) received the prestigious Routes Asia 2018 Marketing Awards for the Overall Winner and Over 20 Million Passengers categories, beating other hubs in the region.

The Marketing Awards was held conjunction with Route Development Forum Asia 2018 or Routes Asia in short, which was held in Brisbane, Australia on 19 March, is regarded as prestigious in the aviation industry because of its unbiased judging by the participating airlines planning community that gives its vote. 

Business In Session

Thanks to these airlines recognise the outstanding marketing services that have supported the launch of new air routes or the development of existing services, KLIA emerged the proud winner of two awards.

Despite the global challenging economic landscape in 2017, KLIA showed an impressive scorecard, securing nine new passenger airlines that flew to Malaysia’s capital city and launching 25 new routes.

Overall, passenger traffic grew by 11.2% to 58.5 million, with the hub recording an additional 30,535 commercial aircraft movements to contribute to a total of 386,054 movements last year.



Mohamed Sallauddin,

General Manager of Airline Marketing

Mohamed Sallauddin, Malaysia Airports general manager of airline marketing, considers this a “fantastic achievement and tremendous recognition of the success we have achieved so far”.

He adds, “Over the past two years we have reimagined how we work with airlines and this rewards the effort the team has made.

“We have come up with a series of coherent programmes for our carriers and the international ones we are pursuing. We will continue to work hard with the aim of hopefully winning an award at World Routes in Guangzhou.”

Before leaving for this event, Sallauddin had tipped MICE Malaysia Beyond that the last time KLIA won Routes Asia Marketing Awards was in 2009 under the Southeast Asia category. In that year, Singapore Changi Airport came in as “Highly Commended”. 

Destination Category: Highly commended - Japan National Tourism Organisation 

We were certainly happy for Sallauddin when he received the two awards this year. On hearing the news, Malaysia Airports managing director Datuk Badlisham Ghazali was overjoyed with KLIA’s two wins at this highly regarded regional heat of Routes Asia 2018 Marketing Awards.  

Malaysia Airports managing director
Datuk Badlisham Ghazali

We met him recently at the ground-breaking ceremony of Senior Aerospace Upeca facility at Subang Aerotech Park prior to the awards, Badlisham told MICE Malaysia Beyond that Malaysia Airports had put in a lot of hard work into positioning KLIA as a regional hub to be reckoned with.

When we met him recently at the ground-breaking ceremony of Senior Aerospace Upeca facility at Subang Aerotech Park prior to the awards, Badlisham told MICE Malaysia Beyond that Malaysia Airports had put in a lot of hard work into positioning KLIA as a regional hub to be reckoned with.

As can be seen, the airport operator has been innovative in coming out with its airline marketing strategies to promote the desired destinations. Its collaboration with Tourism Malaysia last year in the Joint International Tourism Development Programme saw the two matching the investments made by the airlines, trade and business partners in marketing campaigns that drive inbound tourism.

Malaysia Airports also undertook several missions to Europe, ASEAN, South Asia, India and China to meet up with over 30 airlines at their headquarters to market KLIA as a fast-growing hub besides participating in major travel trade shows to discuss with travel agents and airlines to bring in more charter flights into Malaysia.

As aptly put by Steven Small, brand director of Routes, “The results that KLIA achieved in 2017 speak for themselves. The relationships that they have fostered with their airline and tourism partners, showcase how a collaborative approach delivers remarkable growth.”

As the overall winner, KLIA will be automatically shortlisted for the World Routes Marketing Awards in Guangzhou on 17 September.

Here’s the full list of Routes Asia 2018 Marketing Awards:

Overall Winner: Kuala Lumpur International Airport

Over 20 million passengers

_{Winner: Kuala Lumpur International Airport}

Highly commended: Singapore Changi Airport 

4 – 20 million passengers

Winner: Adelaide Airport
Highly commended: Auckland Airport

Under 4 million passengers

Winner: Vladivostok International Airport

Highly commended: Townsville Airport

Destination

Winner: Cook Islands Tourism Corporation

Highly commended: Japan National Tourism Organization 

The news is out! Routes Asia 2019 will be held in Cebu, Philippines from 10-12 March.


Over To You Cebu - ROUTES ASIA 2019

*   Note: Pictures taken from Route Asia 2018 Supplies