The Pacific Asia Travel Associ­ation (PATA) announced the winners of the 2010 PATA Gold Awards, sponsored by the Macau Government Tourist Office. This year the awards recognise the achievements of 24-separate or­ganisations and individuals. Therefore the 2010, PATA Grand and Gold Awards present­ed, with multiple awards going to Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, Hong Kong Tourism Board, and Tourism Authority of Thailand. The awards ceremony 2011 will place on September 17th dur­ing PATA Travel Mart 2010 at the Venetian® Macao~Resort~Hotel, Macau SAR.

The Ministry of Tourism, Government of India won the award in the Heritage category for the tourism project’s case study Hodka village in Kachchh district of Gujarat. The Rural Tourism Project was conceptu­alised in 2003 by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, in partnership with the United Na­tions Development Programme (UNDP) at 36-rural sites in 20 states. This has now been extend­ed to another 133 villages. This winning entry for the PATA Gold Award 2010 is specifically for the Shaam-e-Sarhad resort of the rural tourism project at Hodka village in the Kachchh district of Gujarat. Sustainable visitor strate­gies based on art, craft, cultural, natural heritage and environment care, can hence target larger tourism yields, which could contribute significantly to conserva­tion, and the rural sector in particular. The Project facilitates interactive experiences of rural life for the paying visitor, who is the direct income route for the local communi­ties. The project’s key action routes include the formation of rural self help groups, tourism marketing and governance struc­tures, backed by convergent support to sustainable village infrastructure, waste management and environment car. The focus is thereby on sustainable capacity building with local stakeholder participa­tion, wherein women and the rural poor are target beneficiaries.
PATA Grand Awards are presented to outstanding entries in the four principal categories: Marketing, Education and Training, Environment, and Heritage. This year, the Grand Awards go to Ministry of Tourism, Government of India in the heritage category; Tourism New Zealand in the marketing category; Banyan Tree Spa Academy for education and training and AlamKulKul Boutique Resort, Bali for environment.
The Indian tourism grabbed PATA Gold Awards in five more categories. The awards won in special sectors are Marketing-Primary Government Destina­tion for Eco Tourism Marketing Campaign; Marketing-Industry for a ‘Let your Mind Travel’ slogan by Kuoni Travel India; Edu­cation and Training-conducting a Child Protection Workshop by Kuoni Destination Management; Marketing Media-Travel Advertisement Print Media for the Ma­hatma Gandhi Creative and Marketing Media-Website for the Best Tourism Web­site in India to www.keralatourism.org.