Hon’ble Chief Minister Shri Oommen Chandy, has presented the State Tourism Awards for 2012-13 underlining a commitment to speed up infrastructure development and roll out new services in the tourism sector over the coming months as the government’s “Mission 676” picks up pace.
Speaking at the awards function in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday, he said tourism as a key focus sector will get all support from the government to step up work on existing projects and revive others, including the Seaplane service.
A total of 23 awards in three separate categories were presented at the ceremony.
Hon’ble Minister for Tourism Shri A P Anil Kumar who presided over the function said facilities including water taxis and hop-on, hop-off boats will be rolled out in the next couple of months.
He added that the awards themselves were a testimony to the fact that things are moving at a much faster pace than before.
The State Tourism Awards for 2011-12 were presented only four months ago. The process of identifying and honouring the winners for 2012-13 was completed in just four months, he said.
“We are happy to have cleared the backlog and become up-to-date on the awards; the next step to maintain this momentum for all our plans and projects,” he said, adding that the businesses, services and partners in tourism are the stakeholders driving the growth of the sector and the awards were an important recognition of their contributions.
The State Tourism Award winners were chosen by a high level committee chaired by the Tourism Secretary from a preliminary list prepared by a panel of experts constituted by the tourism department.
Kochi-based Lotus Destination Pvt Ltd was named the Best Inbound Tour Operator for 2012-13 and Riya Holidays Pvt Ltd, also based in Kochi, the Best Outbound Tour Operator.
Vivanta by Taj – Malabar in won the award for the Best 5-star Deluxe Hotel; Kumarakom Lake Resort in Kottayam won for the Best 5-star Hotel; Udaya Samudra Leisure Beach Hotel in Kovalam was named the Best 4-star Hotel; Marari Beach Resort in Alappuzha the Best 3-star Hotel and Coconut Lagoon in Kumarakom the Best Heritage Hotel.
The award for the Best Ayurveda Centre went to the Somatheeram Ayurveda Beach Resort in Kovalam and the award for the best Homestay to Thiruvananthapuram-based Graceful Homestay. Alappuzha Rainbow Cruises was named the Best Houseboat Operator.
The Best Hotel Manager award went to Shri P. Subramanian of Alappuzha Marari Beach.
Dr K C Krishnakumar, Chief Sub-Editor at Mathrubhumi (Yathra, Kozhikode) won the award for the Best Tourism Reporting and Shri B Muralikrishnan, Mathrubhumi Chief News Photographer and Kochi-based Shri Ajosh Parakkan won for the Best Tourism Photography.
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