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Kerala Tourism has bagged the inaugural Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) CEO Challenge 2015 award for the top emerging destination in the world.
"The award has given us the opportunity to showcase new tourism products and packages developed in the wildlife destination of Thekkady, under the Responsible Tourism project to a global audience," said Mr. G. Kamala Vardhana Rao, Secretary, Kerala Tourism, who received the award from Mr. Mario Hardy, CEO, PATA and Mr. Martin Verdon-Roe, Vice-President, TripAdvisor at a gala ceremony held at the World Travel Mart (WTM), London. Mr. Taleb D. Rifai, Secretary General, United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) was among those present at the award ceremony held on the opening day of the WTM, London.
The award is in recognition to the pioneering Responsible Tourism initiatives taken in Thekkady by Kerala Tourism. Thekkady won the Top Emerging Destination Award in the category for two-tier / three-tier cities. Kerala Tourism also had won the 2015 National Tourism Award for its Responsible Tourism project in Thekkady.
“The Responsible Tourism Initiative of Kerala Tourism in Thekkady, implemented through the Kerala Institute of Tourism and Travel Studies (KITTS), has developed new tourism products and packages in partnership with the local community and tourism industry,” added the Secretary.
Under the PATA CEO Challenge 2015, global travel site TripAdvisor will work with Kerala Tourism to develop and create a 500,000-dollar digital marketing campaign to showcase Thekkady to international travellers. Kerala Tourism will also receive free stand space at the PATA Travel Mart 2016 in Jakarta during September 7 - 9 and in invitation to the PATA Annual Summit in Guam, United States in May 2016.
