PATA announces 2006 Gold Award Winners

The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) has announced the winners of the 2006 PATA Gold Awards. This year the awards honour the achievements of 28 travel-related organisations and individuals. The winners will receive their awards during the 55th PATA Annual Conference in Pattaya, Thailand, April 23-27, 2006.

The honours include four Grand Awards and 31 Gold Awards. 

The 2006 PATA Grand Award for Heritage will be presented to The South China Morning Post, Hong Kong SAR for its "Hong Kong's Vibrant Rural Communities" campaign. Published in The South China Morning Post, the series of articles vividly illustrates how the traditional villages of Hong Kong have adapted to the 21st century and the role they play in conserving Hong Kong’s heritage.

The Marketing award will go to Singapore Airlines for its "Singapore Airlines Recovery Initiatives - Maldives, Sri Lanka and Bali." SIA successfully rallied the support of industry partners and tourism authorities in the Maldives, Sri Lanka and Bali. The airline garnered its global network and resources to promote a wide-ranging recovery programme. The promotion of the Maldives and Sri Lanka received enthusiastic response: more than 2,000 passengers purchased the holiday packages.

The Environmental award will go to Kerala Tourism, India for its "Zero Waste Kovalam." The project aims to tackle the waste issue in the fishing village and beach destination of Kovalam by changing the way the community uses materials and resources. Zero Waste is an ethical, economical and efficient way of looking at material use, reducing the production of waste, and enhancing waste management procedures. 

The Education and Training award will go to Mount Lavinia Hotel, Sri Lanka for its "Youth Trainee Programme". The programme aims to advance youth employment opportunities in the tourism industry.

In addition to the four Grand Awards, 31 PATA Gold Awards will be presented to the winners. Multiple awards went to several of this year's entrants, such as Kerala Tourism, Banyan Tree Holdings, Tourism New Zealand, Sarawak Tourism Board and Singapore Airlines.

The winning campaigns were selected from more than 200 Gold Award entries by panels of international experts in each category. The awards were open to both PATA and non-PATA members.

Grand Award winners will receive their trophies during the opening ceremony of the 55th PATA Annual Conference on April 24, 2006. The Gold Award winners will be presented their trophies during a special luncheon on the same day.

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