In the recent inaugural event of Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) CEO challenge 2015, highly popular tourist spot in Kerala, Thekkady was honored with the “world’s top emerging destination” award. Thekkady, a breathtaking location in the remote district of Kerala shared this award with an international territory; the Albay province of the Philipines. Just when the former was proclaimed a winner in the second and third-tier cities category, its foreign counterpart bagged the award for states, provinces and regions.
The $500,000 PATA CEO Challenge award is aimed to create a digital marketing campaign to bring forth the destinations to a much larger global audience. Winners would be presented their respective awards at the opening day of the World Travel Mart in London on the 2nd of November 2015.
On such a win, Kerala Tourism Minister A.P Anil Kumar stated, “The award will only increase our commitment to work further towards the growth of tourism in Kerala and development of our communities and the livelihoods of our people while preserving our environment.”
Kerala Tourism Secretary G. Kamala Vardhana Rao also expressed his views by saying “The top global tourism award is a recognition of our pioneering efforts in creating a harmony between our distinguished visitors and our nature-endowed destinations.”
Always been considered the role model of responsible tourism by the Kerala Government, Thekkady on the banks of the Periyar River has undergone various development projects over time. Owing to this, this unique habitat of wild elephants in Kerala has risen to new levels of exotic tourism.