Kerala Tourism Adds Three More PATA Gold Awards To Its Kitty

Kerala Tourism has won the 2004 Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Gold Awards for its Thenmala Eco-tourism Project, East Fort Heritage Project and the Ayurveda promotional CD-ROM titled Niramaya. Kerala, internationally acclaimed as God's Own Country, is the only state in India, that bagged three awards this year.

The award for East Fort acclaims the government's efforts in implementing a comprehensive strategy for protecting the area of East Fort in the city of Thiruvananthapuram by declaring it as a 'heritage zone'. With its forts, palaces, temples, walls and lanes, East Fort has an indisputable importance in the evolution of the state as well as the city of Thiruvananthapuram. The award for Thenmala lauds the state's initiatives in promoting eco-tourism on the basis of sound principles of ecological sustainability in the surrounding areas of Thenmala. This is the first planned eco-tourism project in India. The awards will be presented on April 19, 2004 at the 53rd PATA annual conference in Jeju Island, Korea. "The awards are a tribute to sustainable tourism, which Kerala has adopted," said P Sankaran, minister for tourism, Kerala.

Adding further T Balakrishnan, secretary, Kerala Tourism said, "The awards reaffirm our commitment to implementing a long-term, well-though out marketing and communications strategy." He also pointed out that Kerala Tourism has developed into a highly successful global brand that attracts tourists from all over the world. Alkesh Kumar Sharma, director, Kerala Tourism, emphasised the role of the tourism-trade in achieving the awards. "The credit of this exceptional achievement goes to the trade, who in addition to creating innovative products and services, worked closely with the government in marketing and promoting the destination," he said.