Evaluation of nominees for South Asian Travel Awards (SATA) 2019 have begun, with evaluation sessions taking place in Maldives and Sri Lanka.
A four-member international jury, which comprises Amal Goonetilleke from Sri Lanka, Rinku Madan from India, Sangeeta Rana from Bhutan and Abdulla Suood from Maldives, has conducted evaluation sessions in Maldives capital Male and in Sri Lankan capital Colombo. Presentations by the Maldivian nominees took place in Mookai Hotel whilst the Sri Lankan property presentations were held at Ramada Colombo.
The jury is now in Bangalore for the evaluation of nominees from South India which takes place at the The Chancery Pavilion. The panel will travel to New Delhi on June 24 where they will conduct sessions at The Grand New Delhi to evaluate the North Indian nominees.
During the evaluation, each property has to do a presentation of 10 minutes before the panel.
Over 500 travel and tourism businesses operating in the South Asian region have been nominated for this year’s edition of the awards.
Voting for the nominees is underway.
SATA 2019 Gala is scheduled to take place in September.
Launched in 2016 by Maldives based event management company Highrise, SATA has been endorsed by regional tourism authorities and organisations, including the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Sri Lanka (FCCISL), Colombo Chamber of Commerce (CCC), Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC), Maldives Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators (MATATO), Confederation of Associated Tour Operators (India), Association of Travel Agents (ATA) Maldives, Association of Travel and Tour Operators India (ATTOI), Association of Professionals in Tourism (APT, India), Kerala Hotel General Managers Club (KHGMC), Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) and Liveaboard Association of Maldives (LAM).
SATA is the first ever regional travel awards endorsed by multi national associations, providing the tourism sector of the South Asian region with recognition towards their facilities and service excellence. It aims to encourage and raise service standards in the region’s tourism industry.
Over the past three years, the SATA Gala has been held in Sri Lanka, Maldives and India.