World Travel Awards (WTA), the “Oscars of the travel industry”, has announced plans to host its Asia & Australasia Ceremony 2012 during TravelRave, Singapore’s mega travel and tourism festival.
The heavyweights of Asia Pacific travel are scheduled to attend the gala evening on 18 October 2012, which will mark the first ever WTA ceremony to be hosted in Singapore.
The red-carpet ceremony, which will take place at the InterContinental Singapore, will include a gala dinner, top entertainment, as well as the presentation of the coveted awards.
WTA was launched in 1993 to acknowledge and recognise excellence in the global travel and tourism industry, and is now regarded as the very highest achievement that a travel product could hope to receive.
The WTA organisers highlight the added dimension their prestigious awards programme will bring to TravelRave’s powerful mix.
Graham E Cooke, President & Founder, WTA, says: “We are delighted to be hosting our Asia & Australasia Ceremony 2012 under the TravelRave umbrella. Since its debut in 2010, TravelRave has quickly established itself as the definitive platform for Asia’s travel leaders to maximise the tourism potential of the region. WTA will offer these senior decision-makers a unique opportunity to savour and celebrate their achievements of the past year with their industry peers.”
He adds: “Asia Pacific remains one of the bright spots of our global industry, and its continuing growth despite the challenges being faced elsewhere highlight the strength and depth of its travel and tourism economy. The winners at our ceremony will be those organisations that have made the greatest contribution to this success.”
Ms Neeta Lachmandas, Assistant Chief Executive of the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), agrees. “Asia continues to be a key engine of growth for tourism, and travel and tourism businesses are increasingly venturing to Asia to capitalize on the opportunities there. It is indeed an exciting time for tourism, and hence it is important to recognize the accomplishments of Asia Pacific’s leading travel industry professionals, and provide the impetus for our global travel partners to build capabilities to meet the challenges of the future. Singapore is honoured to partner WTA to host the highly regarded Asia & Australasia Gala Ceremony 2012, which will be the perfect complement to TravelRave 2012, Asia’s most influential travel trade festival.”
Now in its third year, TravelRave brings together top minds and opinion leaders across Asia Pacific to exchange strategic insights and knowledge, network, brainstorm new ideas as well as uncover potential growth opportunities that will help ensure sustained growth in Asia’s travel and tourism industry. Other key events taking place under the TravelRave umbrella include ITB Asia, Asia Travel Leaders Summit, Web In Travel and Aviation Outlook Asia.
The Asia & Australasia Gala Ceremony 2012 marks the fifth and final leg of WTA’s Grand Tour, a global search for the world’s leading travel brands, which also includes regional heats in Dubai, Turks & Caicos, Nairobi and The Algarve. The winners of these regional heats will then go head-to-head at WTA’s Grand Final, which takes place at The Oberoi, Gurgaon, New Delhi, India on 12 December 2012.
