South Asian Travel Awards (SATA) has celebrated the best of tourism in South Asia, as Sri Lanka hosted the fourth edition of the regional travel awards.
SATA, which held its first ever gala in Sri Lanka in 2016, returned to Sri Lanka this year, with Amari Galle hosting the SATA Gala Retreat 2019 from September 19-20.
The first day of the event presented networking opportunities for the attendees, whilst industry experts participated in panel discussions about promoting South Asia as a regional tourist destination and working together to tackle challenges that the region faces in terms of tourism.
The SATA Gala Retreat continued onto a second day at Amari Galle, with its most awaited event, the SATA Gala and Awards ceremony, where winners were announced.
Over 500 travel and tourism businesses operating in the South Asian region were nominated for this year’s edition of the awards.
Voting for the nominees closed in July, whilst nominee evaluations were conducted by a four-member jury in major cities in the region, including Colombo, Bangalore, New Delhi, Kathmandu and Dhaka.
Partners of the fourth edition of SATA include: Velana International Airport (Platinum Partner), Amari Galle (Official Host), The Hawks Pvt. Ltd. (Gold Partner), Dhivehi Insurance Company (Official Insurance Partner), Life.lk (Silver Partner), Ad Solutions Digital Communications (Silver Partner), Sole Asia.com (Silver Partner) and Ramada Colombo (Hospitality Partner).
Top travel publications in the region also serve as this year’s edition of SATA: Maldives Insider (Travel News Partner), The Islandchief (Tabloid Partner), One Online (Online News Partner), Maldives Business Review (Business News Partner), and Digital Studio (Photography Partner).
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), Liveaboard Association of Maldives (LAM), Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO), and The Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL).
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.