Phuket tourism firms win TAT awards

PHUKET: Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has announced the names of nine local tourism businesses and associations awarded prizes in the 8th Annual Thailand Tourism Awards.

The biennial awards are designed to instill awareness and promote responsible management in tourism among tourism entrepreneurs, ultimately leading to sustainable tourism.

Bangornrat Shinaprayoon, director of the TAT South Region 4 Office in Phuket Town, announced the local winners, and the categories they were competing under, as follows:

Awards of Excellence

Outstanding Performance Awards

All of the winners listed are located in Phuket or Phang Nga.

Representatives of all winning groups will be invited to attend the awards ceremony, to be held on September 27 at Centara Grand at Central World in Bangkok. The event is scheduled to coincide with “World Tourism Day”.

World Tourism Day, first celebrated by the UN World Tourism Organization in 1980, is intended to raise awareness on the role of tourism within the international community and demonstrate how it affects social, cultural, political and economic values worldwide.

Mrs Bangornrat said the results by the nine groups listed showed a firm commitment to continual improvement.

Both the Katathani and the Koh Yao Noi Ecotourism Club have won an outstanding performance award in the past, in 2008 and 2004, respectively, she noted.

Winning the more illustrious Award of Excellence was a reflection of such commitment, she said.

Both will now enjoy benefits that include free TAT promotion for one year, she said.

— Sitthipong Nongkaew