From left: Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators COO Win.Com. Kumuda Eramudugolla, Amari Galle General Manager Puneet Dutta, SATA President Ismail Hameed, the Hotels Association Sri Lanka CEO Amal Goonetilleke and The Hawksn General Manager Hussain Amam
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By Divya Thotawatte
In an effort to celebrate hospitality and travel bodies in the region, the organisers of South Asian Travel Awards (SATA) 2019 recently held a signing ceremony with their partners for the regional event that will be hosted in Sri Lanka this year for the second time since its inception in 2016.
The partnerships for the South Asian Travel Awards 2019 event were unveiled during the signing ceremony while SATA President Ismail Hameed and SATA Sri Lanka Vice President Sameer Yoonus signed agreements with representatives of SATA’s official host, gold, silver, hospitality and insurance partners. Organisers stated that the regional event will be held in Sri Lanka for the second time in four years as a mark of solidarity and support to the country after the recent setbacks that the country had gone through after Easter Sunday attacks.
Delivering a speech during the signing ceremony, Hameed said that over 200 participants from six destinations in the South Asian region, including India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Maldives, will take part in the awards ceremony. He said that about 300 tourists were expected to visit Sri Lanka for the event.
“The South Asian Travel Awards (SATA) 2019 evaluations, conducted by our expert panel of judges, began in Maldives during June and continued to major cities in the region including Colombo, Bangalore, New Delhi, Kathmandu, and concluded in Dhaka, Bangladesh on 19 July 2019. The winners will be announced at the 4th Annual South Asian Travel Awards Gala event scheduled for September 2019,” he added.
Velana International Airport, Maldives confirmed as the Platinum Partner for the event while The Hawks Ltd. was appointed as the Gold Partner for the event and The Hawks General Manager Hussain Aman signed the agreement. Dhivehi Insurance Company signed as the official Insurance Partner for SATA 2019. Amari Galle was chosen to be the official host of SATA Gala 2019, with the event scheduled to take place on 19 and 20 September as a retreat in Galle. Onyx Hospitality Group Area General Manager Russel Cool signed the agreement on behalf of Amari Galle, Sri Lanka.
Cool said, “Following the recent incident in the country which affected the entire economy, we have continued to work as one united industry to ride the aftershocks. I commend the SATA committee for choosing Sri Lanka to host the awards, an initiative I believe will contribute to positive international perceptions of Sri Lanka and feature the best of South Asian hospitality to the world.”
The South Asian Travel Awards (SATA) was launched in 2016 with the objective of providing brands across the region’s travel and hospitality industry with a credible platform to be recognised for their outstanding achievements. As the first brand to celebrate a wide and encompassing spectrum of hospitality and travel in the South Asian region, SATA has received immense support from regional hospitality brands and organisations.
The first SATA Gala ceremony was hosted at the Mount Lavinia Hotel in 2016, with subsequent SATA Gala’s held at Equator Village Maldives in 2017 and the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, Mumbai in 2018. Now in its fourth year, SATA 2019 has received over 500 nominations from a plethora of segments within the industry. – Pix by Lasantha Kumara
Source: http://www.ft.lk/travel-tourism/SATA-to-revisit-Sri-Lanka/27-683004
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