PATA GRAND AND GOLD AWARDS HONOUR THE BEST OF PACIFIC ASIA

The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) is recognising the outstanding achievement of more than two dozen organisations and individuals under the Association’s 2001 Gold Awards programme. All awards will be presented to the winners during a special luncheon on April 9 at the 50th PATA Annual Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The honours include two Grand Awards -- presented to the "best of show" entries in the categories of Marketing and Education & Training.

The 2001 PATA Grand Award for Marketing will be presented to the Australian Tourist Commission for its Olympic Games Tourism Strategy. The ATC orchestrated a massive campaign to leverage the Olympics brand and change the world’s view of Australia. Elements included strategic alliances, trade-marketing programmes, an aggressive media relations programme and specific targeting of high-yield markets. The campaign resulted in an additional 1.7 million visitors who spent US$3.5 billion. This is the third year in a row the ATC has received the Grand Award for Marketing.

The PATA Grand Award for Education & Training will go to Amadeus India for its Amadeus India Training Course. The comprehensive course features six modules ranging from the introductory "Enter the World of Amadeus" segment to more specialised sessions on negotiated fares and airline-specific training. Training is provided at six state-of-the-art facilities on the Indian subcontinent; in 2000, more than 2,000 professionals from travel agencies and airlines were trained on the system.

In addition to the two Grand Awards, 25 PATA Gold Awards will be presented for achievement (list of all winners is attached). Multiple awards went to several of this year’s entrants, such as Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts, the Guam Visitors Bureau and the Hong Kong Tourist Association.

The winning programmes were selected from nearly 300 Gold Award entries by panels of international experts in each category. The awards are open to PATA and PATA Chapter members, with the exception of the journalism awards, which are open to all published writers and photographers.