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Who will walk away with the Columbus this year?

Galileo Express TravelWorld Awards 2008-2009: Honouring the past, celebrating the present, protecting the future

Columbus is back and he is geared up to look for excellence in the business of travel and tourism. Those he freezes on as winners would be honoured at the most prestigious travel and tourism industry awards -The Galileo Express TravelWorld Awards 2008-2009 in New Delhi this November.

Keeping in view the industry's fast growing pace, the Columbus will be given out to deserving winners in 29 categories this year from 22 in 2007-2008. We have re-arranged the previous year's categories to give a fair chance to the regional players in the tour operator category.

The inbound tour operator's category will have one national winner and four regional winners from north, south, east and west instead of just one. The same will be applied for the outbound tour operator's category wherein apart from one national winner, there would be awards announced for regional players from north, south, east and west.

We have also bifurcated the international tourism board category keeping in view their audience and market strategy. Thus, we will have awards going for Best International Tourism Destination (long haul) and Best International Tourism Destination (short haul).

Similarly, the international airline category will also be titled Best International Airline (long haul) and Best International Airline (short haul).

This year we are introducing two all-new award categories - the Best Car Rental Company and Best Regional Hotel Brand. So get set and ready to fill in your nomination forms to be part of the industry's most celebrated travel and tourism awards.