Goa bags PATWA Award for ‘Best Wedding and Honeymoon Destination’

Goa Tourism has won the Pacific Area Travel Writers Association (PATWA) Award as the ‘Best Wedding and Honeymoon Destination’ during the recently concluded ITB Berlin. The award was presented at a ceremony held at the venue, Messedamm, Berlin to Goa Tourism officials. Dr Taleb Rifai, Secretary General, United Nations World Travel Organisation (UNWTO), presented the award in the presence of Sagar Ahluwalia, Secretary General, PATWA.

Dilip Parulekar, Minister for Tourism and Woman Child, Government of Goa, said,  “I am delighted on receiving this award, which is not only very prestigious, but also helps in recognition of the state as a leading destination for high-end wedding celebrations  and a perfect destination for honeymoon.” He added that participation in ITB Berlin has been a successful exercise and expressed optimism that this will lead to increased inflow of tourists from Europe in general and Germany in particular, especially after the introduction of the e-visa facility.

Nilesh Cabral, Chairman, Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC), said, “This development comes after National Geographic rated Goa as the Sixth Best Night Life Destination in the World,” and added that participation in events like ITB can enable Goa to communicate this development to travel agents around the world, which would further improve tourist inflow in Goa.

Ameya Abhyankar IAS, Director – Tourism, Government of Goa, said, “The PATWA award received by Goa Tourism at the ITB Berlin 2015 is prestigious and endorses all our efforts in promoting Goa as a Wedding and Honeymoon destination. We are working towards new tourism ventures to attract quality tourists and present attractive packages that will make celebrations and events in Goa lucrative and irresistible.”

The Goa Tourism stall received good response from travel agents around the world. The stall was designed with focus on culture, cuisine, Adventure Tourism, Ecotourism, and special events. The travel trade members from Goa who participated at the event include Alpha Holidays, Freedom Holidays, Minar Travels, De Souza Group, and Alila Diwa.

PATWA is a professional organisation of travel writers that was founded in 1998, at the Pacific Area Travel Association (PATA) Conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka.