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Second shortlist unveiled for WTM International Travel & Tourism Awards 2019

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The second line-up of shortlisted candidates for the International Travel & Tourism Awards (ITTAs), presented by WTM, is revealed today (Thursday 15 August).

More than 90 nominations have been shortlisted for the prestigious awards scheme, now in their second year, as the Awards will celebrate the very best of travel and tourism on a global scale. The ITTAs recognise the outstanding successes of destinations, tourist boards, private sector companies and individuals.

The winners will be announced to an audience of more than 500 leading industry figures – including Heads of Tourism and Government Ministers – during a prestigious awards ceremony at Magazine London. The brand new event space, which is located just a stone’s throw away from WTM London venue, ExCeL offers a super modern experience with outstanding views of the City.

The ITTAs, presented by WTM and supported by the UNWTO, welcomed a selection of distinguished judges to assess the first tranche of categories, and the contenders have today been unveiled.

Expert judges were drawn from top industry organisations including, WTTC, International Airline Group (IAG), Adobe, Earth Changers, London & Partners, Euromonitor International, public relations body PRCA and the Global Wellness Institute.

The Best Destination category, introduced for 2019, saw an overwhelming response with more than 20 entries, so to enable the judges to compare the entries fairly, this category is now split into Country, City and Region, creating three separate categories.

Nicole Smart, International Travel & Tourism Awards Organiser, said: “We are amazed to see even more shortlisted entries for 2019, compared to the inaugural event last year. I feel this alone shows huge support from the industry.
“We have been delighted with both the volume and quality of the entries, with contenders entering from across the globe – from destinations as diverse as St.Kitts, Jordan, Kerala and Wales – and they demonstrate how tourism is playing a vital role in the economies of different cities and regions.

“Our judges have been greatly impressed by the exceptional quality of entries, and those who are on the shortlist know they have reached a very high standard – they will be among the best in the world.

The second categories to have shortlists unveiled are listed below, with the first wave announced last month (Thursday 25 July).

Best National Tourism Board Campaign

o Azerbaijan: Take Another Look by Azerbaijan Tourism Board
o Incredible India by CNBC
o Revitalising Tobago Tourism by Gravity Global
o The St. Kitts Shout Out by Rooster PR
o Feel Slovenia, Experience Croatia by Slovenian Tourist Board and Croatian National Tourist Board
o #GetNZontheMap by Tourism New Zealand

Best in Adventure

o Rubondo Island Camp, Rubondo Island National Park, Lake Victoria, Tanzania by Asilia Africa
o Alice in 7 Wonderlands by DEC BBDO
o Explore launches short break: Discover Chernobyl by Explore
o Intrepid Travel Women’s Expeditions by Intrepid Travel
o Guyana as a Leading Sustainable Adventure Destination by LOTUS
o Creating The Closest Thing To Flying by Rooster PR
o Alpe-Adria-Trail by Slovenian Tourist Board
o Jordan Trail by The Jordan Trail Association
o Getting off the beaten track in Northern Thailand, by The Tuk Tuk Club

Best Digital Campaign in Tourism

o Join me in Jamaica by Brighter Group, a Finn Partners Company
o TBC Asia 2018 by Cinnamon Hotel Management Ltd
o Destination Abu Dhabi 2018 by Department of Culture and Tourism
o VisitBritain – #GreatBritishSurprise by Digital Visitor
o Wanderers – powered by G Adventures by G Adventures
o Discover Your South Africa by Ginger Juice
o #keyframe19: Plenty of influencers – and no ads, please by Hamburg Marketing GmbH
o iClick Interactive x Palazzo Versace Hotel: Expanding Brand Presence in Digital China by iClick Interactive Asia Limited
o Kerala Blog Express 5 by Kerala Tourism
o Tourism and Events Queensland – #GoForGold with the Queensland Games by MDSG
o Serbia Moments by National Tourism Organisation of Serbia
o MTV in Western Australia by SLC Representation

Best in Luxury

o Santorini Luxury Cruises – The experience of a lifetime! by Caldera Yachting
o The Art of Celebration by CNBC
o Carpe Diem Exclusive Boutique Santorini by PR MEDIACO
o Alpe-Adria-Golf by Slovenian Tourist Board

Best PR Campaign

o Malta Tourism Authority: Valletta 2018 by Brighter Group, a Finn Partners Company
o We’ve Come a Long Way by Jago and Tourism NI
o #CoverTheProgress by KETCHUM INC
o First World Bee Day PR Campaign by Slovenian Tourist Board
o Lost Skills campaign by Travelopia: The Moorings | Sunsail

Best Digital Influencer Campaign

o #LoveAntiguaBarbuda 2018 by Brighter Group, a Finn Partners Company
o Archipelago Guide For An Accidental Traveller by Citynomadi Ltd
o Abu Dhabi Destination Campaign by Department of Culture and Tourism
o Sailing in the British Virgin Islands with The Moorings and Simon Shaw by Travelopia: The Moorings | Sunsail
o Nassau Paradise Island & Find Us Lost by VERB Interactive

Best Destination Campaign – Country

o Azerbaijan: Take Another Look by Azerbaijan Tourism Board
o Buzz4trips by Buzz4trips
o Incredible !ndia 2.0 by CNN International Commercial
o Revitalising Tobago Tourism by Gravity Global
o #CoverTheProgress by KETCHUM INC
o Destination Campaign | No spoilers. See it live. by Loosers s.r.o.
o Wales Reimagined: Reviving Post Industrial Landscapes with Adventure Tourism by Smorgasbord
o South African Tourism – Discover Your South Africa by The Brighter Group

Best in Responsible Tourism

o Green Motion Environmental Strategy by Green Motion International
o Turizem Bohinj – Creating Sustainable Destination Model by AM+A Marketing & Media Relations

International Travel & Tourism Awards (ITTAs), presented by WTM London, celebrate the success of national, regional and city tourist boards and recognise outstanding private sector companies and individuals. Now in their second year, the awards will showcase the best in class of the global travel & tourism industry at the new venue, Magazine London on Tuesday 5 November 2019. https://awards.wtm.com/

About World Travel Market

World Travel Market (WTM) portfolio comprises seven leading B2B events across four continents, generating more than $7 billion of industry deals. The events are:

WTM London, the leading global event for the travel industry, is the must-attend three-day exhibition for the worldwide travel and tourism industry. About 50,000 senior travel industry professionals, government ministers and international media visit ExCeL London every November, generating about £3.4 billion in travel industry contracts. http://london.wtm.com/.

Next event: Monday 4 – Wednesday 6 November 2019 – London #IdeasArriveHere

Media Contact:

Nicole Smart

E: [email protected]

T: +44 (0)20 8910 7032/ M: +44 (0)79 1955 5510

Julia Newbound – WTM Portfolio PR Executive

E: [email protected]

T: +44 (0)20 8910 7056 / M: +44 (0)7775 036 858

India: Jet Airways’ demise leads to spike in airfares, massive hotel cancellations

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The abrupt shutdown of Jet Airways operations has left Indian tourism industry a worried lot as it has led to an average 25 percent spike in airfares across the sectors leading to massive hotel cancellations, says industry experts.

Some key sectors like Mumbai-Hyderabad, Mumbai-Delhi and Delhi-Mumbai have seen the fares flying by 62 percent, 52 percent and 49 percent, while the Bengaluru-Delhi sector has had the lowest impact with a 10 percent surge shortly before and soon after the grounding of Jet.

Financially struggling for months, Jet Airways decided to call it quits from Wednesday night, leaving 22,000 jobs at stake and inconveniencing lakhs of passengers both domestic as well as international as Jet was the single largest airline out of and into the country.

“The impact of grounding of Jet Airways is not only restricted to the airlines sector as tourism has taken a severe beating due to the massive surge in airfares during the peak demand season. The impact is unlikely to fade away anytime soon and may continue into the rest of the year,” Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) president Sunil Kumar said Friday.

He said, both the domestic as well as international travel and related sectors are affected as travelers are cancelling their hotel bookings as airfares have surged by over 25 percent on average.

Leading tour operator Cox & Kings’ Karan Anand said the shuttering of Jet has upset the travel plans of many who have booked on Jet.

“This is the peak travel season and the airfares for the next 10-12 days are up by at least 25 percent as the capacity has fallen massively dissuading last minute travelers,” he added.

However, online travel aggregator Easemyyrip.com co- founder Nishant Pitti tried to downplay the impact saying airfares normally fluctuate as the aviation industry is always unpredictable.

“It is true that passengers are in panic now but going forward there will not be much impact as other airlines like Spicejet and Indigo are adding more planes into their fleet which will help balance demand-supply gap,” he said.

Train booking and discovery platform Confirmtkt cofounder Sripad Vaidya said due to the flight charges going up, there is a huge surge in people opting for trains and buses.

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Jamaica’s Tourism Minister Bartlett named PATWA advisor

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Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett has accepted an invitation to become an advisor to international travel writers’ group — Pacific Area Travel Writers Association (PATWA).

The invitation was made by the group’s Secretary General, Sagur Ahluwalia last Friday, who shared that the Minister’s rich experience will be beneficial to the organization.

In expressing his gratitude, Minister Bartlett said, “It is an honour to have been selected as an advisor to the prestigious PATWA organization. I offer my services to the organization and hope that we are able to share ideas which will have a positive impact on the growth of tourism both regionally and internationally.”

PATWA is a professional organisation of travel writers which was founded in 1998, at the Pacific Area Travel Association (PATA) Conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Its founding philosophy is to support PATA’s primary objectives of being a catalyst for responsibly developing the travel and tourism industry in the Asia Pacific region.

Minister Bartlett was this year awarded the Pacific Area Travel Writers Association’s (PATWA) Tourism Minister of the Year for Sustainable Tourism for 2018 in Berlin, Germany
During the awards presentation, Jamaica also received PATWA’s International Travel Award for Destination of the Year.

The awards recognised ¬individuals and organisations that have excelled and/or are involved in the promotion of ¬tourism from different sectors of the travel trade and service ¬providers related directly or indirectly to the industry.

MEDIA CONTACT: Jamaica Ministry of Tourism, Corporate Communications, 64 Knutsford Boulevard, Kingston 5, Tel: 920-4926-30, Fax: 920-4944

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IGLTA honors ITB Berlin for its commitment to LGBT+ travel segment

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The reward for promoting awareness and acceptance of the LGBT+ Community in the global tourism industry: at the Annual Global Convention, which will take place from 24 to 27 April at the Hilton Midtown New York City, the International LGBT+ Travel Association (IGLTA) will present ITB Berlin with the Vanguard Award.

Every year, together with the IGLTA Foundation (www.iglta.org/The-IGLTA-Foundation), the public charity subsidiary of the IGLTA, the directors’ board presents the IGLTA Honors. The recipients are individuals, companies or organizations who have improved relations within the tourism community and raised awareness of LGBT+ travel around the world. The LGBT Travel Pavilion of ITB Berlin celebrated its debut back in 2010, and since then has become a highly-regarded role model for the presentation of the gay and lesbian travel segment at an international travel show. In addition to the extensive display area with its own conference venue, supporting events such as the LGBT+ Media Brunch, networking events, informative lectures, the LGBT+ ITB Convention Seminar – which since 2 years also includes the bestowal of an ITB Pioneer Award -, and, as of this year the International LGBT+ Leadership Summit, attract many visitors.

ITB’s commitment has made it possible to also position this segment at ITB Asia in Singapore and organize international ITB Academies on this topic as recently in Malta and Japan.

”ITB Berlin is proud to occupy a pioneering role in this important subject, and to be the recipient of such a prestigious award for its continuing efforts to promote international recognition of LGBT+ travel“, said Rika Jean-François, CSR officer of ITB Berlin and responsible for this segment. ”What began as a few community pioneers exhibiting here and there around ITB Berlin has over the years become a recognized platform. Together with our partner Diversity Tourism we have created a globally unique forum.“

”We have got to the point now where at ITB Berlin we have created one of the liveliest and most diverse LGBT+ Travel Pavilions possible, with exhibitors and people taking part in discussion rounds from around the world“, is how Thomas Bömkes, LGBT+ consultant for ITB Berlin and Managing Director of Diversity Tourism GmbH described this market’s rising prospects. Rika Jean-François added: ”This award will give us the strength to continue defending LGBT+ travelers against discrimination in every country in the world and to ensure that they, just like any other travelers, can visit places where also local people are respected regardless of their sexual orientation.” Thomas Bömkes pointed out, that the economic potential of this travel market cannot be underestimated: “Studies have shown that accepting diversity can contribute significantly to a destination’s economic success.“

LGBT tourism has been represented at ITB Berlin since the Nineties. As a result of ITB Berlin’s CSR policy which promotes diversity and defends human rights in tourism and due to the keen interest expressed by exhibitors and visitors, Gay & Lesbian Travel was officially declared a segment in its own right at ITB Berlin 2010. Openness, creativity and lively interaction are the dominant features of this segment that has become one of the most wide-ranging at ITB Berlin. The LGBT Travel Pavilion currently boasts the world’s largest display of products for the gay and lesbian travel market of any trade show in the world.

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Somatheeram, world’s first Ayurvedic resort, will join anniversary 25th edition of OTDYKH Leisure 2019

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Somatheeram will, once again, participate at the leading B2B travel exhibition OTDYKH Leisure, which will take place September 10-12, 2019.

Held in Moscow each year, OTDYKH leisure is a perfect start for the upcoming winter season on the Russian inbound and outbound market.

Somatheeram Ayurveda Group in Kerala, India is the foremost resort group in the world for authentic Ayurvedic treatments, Yoga and Meditation.

Founded by Baby Matthews in 1985, today Somathreeram has five deluxe Ayurvedic resorts in Kerala and enchanting houseboats in the backwaters.  The mission of the Group is “to offer the essence and soul of the ancient medical science of Ayurveda and the art of Yoga and Meditation.”

AYURVEDA is a 5000 year old Indian traditional system of medicine. The healing power of Ayurveda has the answer to almost every known ailment.   It is considered to be the oldest form of health care in the world. Ayurveda maintains good health and corrects unstable health. It ensures an honest balance between you, your body and nature.  Ayurveda medicines and supplements are composed only of substances taken from nature. Because they have no side effects, patients do not become physically or psychologically dependent on them.

Somatheeram offers all Ayurveda clinical treatments and treatment packages.  You can choose from rejuvenation therapy, detoxification/body purification, slimming/weight reducing, anti-stress/stress management and beauty care.

Somatheeram is one of over 900 companies participating in the exhibition from every corner of the globe. Once again, OTDYKH team is expecting an outstanding Indiana exposition. In 2018 the expo welcomed India with a record-breaking number of companies. The country was represented by the collective stands of India Tourism and by regional stands of Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation as well as by private resorts, hotels, hospitals and companies such as Caper, Sita Somatheeram etc.

Every year Somatheeram is using its presence at OTDYKH International Travel Market to showcase its wide and varied spectrum of Ayurveda treatments procedures.

Somatheeram team is looking forward to meet you at OTDYKH Leisure 2019, Moscow, Expocentre Fairgrounds, Pavilion 2, Hall 1.

Download a Somatheeram brochure.

If you are considering attending the show from September 10-12, 2019, please register free of charge online.

For information on exhibiting please contact Ms. Anna Huber at [email protected], International office: +43 1 230 85 35

eTN is a media partner for OTDYKH.

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