Publishing firm Tropical Paradise Pvt Ltd has confirmed it is to hold a glittering Maldives Traveller Awards for Excellence event.

The event will honour the best resorts in the Maldives, as voted for by readers from around the world. The aim of the awards ceremony is to encourage excellence and competition within the Maldivian hospitality industry for the mutual benefit of consumers and those in the trade alike.

Tropical Paradise Pvt Ltd is the owner of Maldives Traveller magazine and website, which is registered in Maldives and France, and promotes the Maldives to an international audience. Readers from around the world have been voting for their favourite resorts on the magazine and the website survey. So far more than 50,000 surveys have been collected.

The results of the Maldives Traveller survey will help to compile the ultimate hotlist of the “best in the Maldives”, according to the votes of the consumers themselves. The votes will help compile a shortlist of five nominees for each of the 10 Maldives Traveller Awards for Excellence prize categories; which include the top “Dream Island” that travellers want to visit and overall “Best Resort in the Maldives”; as well as the best for honeymoons, wedding ceremonies, spa relaxation, snorkelling, diving, surfing, business and family holidays. Readers will be asked to vote for their favourites of the top five finalists in the 10 categories online in August, and the winners will be announced at the award ceremony.

Tropical Paradise Pvt Ltd has recently assigned stellar international events company, Mind-Set, to organise the Maldives Traveller awards ceremony. The glamorous award presentation ceremony will see a fabulous gala dinner and spectacular entertainment for nominees. It will take place in Berlin, Germany, in March 2011.

The glossy Maldives Traveller magazine, which celebrates its 10th anniversary next year, is distributed both in the Maldives and across the globe in seven different languages; English, French, Italian, German, Japanese, Russian and Chinese. It is the most comprehensive guide to Maldives resorts in existence, and includes information on Maldivian culture, society and flora and fauna as well as diving and surfing advice. The website, MaldivesTraveller.mv, covers Maldivian travel and tourism news and features, and is updated daily with the latest reports.

Mind-Set events company is based in Austria and has been making waves around the world for its events, promotions and incentives work with major multinational corporations including Western Union, Coca Cola, Toyota, Sony Ericson, HP and Nokia.

For more informationcall +960 333 7588 or email info@tropicalparadise.com.mv. www.maldivestraveller.mv

The Maldives has been ranked as the Best Country Brand for Beach and Best Country Brand for Rest and Relaxation for the year 2008. Maldives also ranked 2nd in the Best Country Brand for Natural Beauty and 3rd in the Best Country Brand for Resort and Lodging Options. The Country Brand Index was officially released during London’s World Travel Market in November 2008.

Country Brand Index is a comprehensive study of approximately 2,700 international business and leisure travellers from nine countries. It is conducted by FutureBrand, a global brand consultancy company and Weber Shandwick which is a public relations firm.

The main marketing slogan for the destination Maldives is “Maldives…the Sunny Side of Life”. The wellness and relaxation aspect is promoted under the theme of “Maldives…the Spiritual Side of Life”. Maldives was ranked number one in these two areas. Maldives emerged as the number one in both Beach and Rest and Relaxation categories after successfully competing with countries like Tahiti, Bahamas and Australia.

Maldives also won the ‘World’s Most Romantic Destination’ award at the WORLD TRAVEL AWARDS last year.

Source: visitmaldives.com

Maldives a longtime favorite destination for honeymooners around the world is named ‘World’s Most Romantic Destination’ at the 2007 World Travel Awards 14th Annual Gala Ceremony held on the islands of Turks & Caicos, Caribbean, on December 12, 2007.

In addition Maldives won several awards in the Indian Ocean’s category:

• Indian Ocean’s Leading Destination – Maldives
• Indian Ocean’s Leading Dive Destination – Maldives
• Indian Ocean’s Leading Diving Resort – Angsana Resort & Spa Maldives
• Indian Ocean’s Leading Resort – Hilton Maldives Resort & Spa
• Indian Ocean’s Leading Spa Resort – Huvafen Fushi Maldives
• Indian Ocean’s Leading Tourist & Convention Bureau – Maldives Tourism Promotion Board
• Indian Ocean’s Leading Travel Agency – Inner Maldives Holidays
• Indian Ocean’s Leading Villa – Baros Residence, Baros Maldives

The global winners of the World Travel Awards for 2007 were announced at a star-studded ceremony on the island of Providenciales, from votes cast by 167,000 tourism professionals and agents who were asked to vote. Next year’s voting register is likely to be even greater, due to the unprecedented levels of interest and expectation.

Hailed as the ‘Oscars of the travel industry’, World Travel Awards have been attracting media attention from all corners of the globe.

The Maldives has been nominated in five categories in the 14th Annual World Travel Awards to be held in the Turks and Caicos Islands on the 12th December 2007. The five categories that Maldives got nominated are World’s Leading Destination, World’s Leading Dive Destination, World’s Leading Honeymoon Destination, World’s Leading Romantic Destination and World’s Leading Travel Television Commercial. In addition Maldives Tourism Promotion Board has been nominated in the World’s Leading Tourist and Convention Bureau category.

Furthermore, some of the Maldives tourism industry players have been nominated in important categories. In this regard Inner Maldives has been nominated in the World’s Leading Travel Agency category, Baros Maldives got nominated in World’s Leading Villa and World’s Leading Beach Resort category, Hilton Maldives has been nominated in World’s Leading Resort category and Huvafenfushi has been nominated in World’s Leading Spa Resort category.

Hailed by the Wall Street Journal as the “Travel industry’s equivalent to the Oscars”, the World Travel Awards are the most comprehensive and most prestigious awards program in the global travel industry. The World Travel Awards were established in 1993 to acknowledge and celebrate excellence in the world’s travel and tourism industry. With thousands of votes cast by travel professionals from 167,000 travel agencies in over 160 countries across the globe, winning a World Travel Award has become one of the highest accolades a travel product can achieve.

The 2007 World Travel Awards world winners will be announced and presented at the gala ceremony which will take place in the islands of Turks & Caicos on the 12th December 2007. Candidates nomination for world winners categories are based on the results from the four regional ceremonies which took place in Abu Dhabi, New York, NewcastleGateshead and Bangalore in 2007.

MTPB won the Indian Oceans Leading Tourist and Visitor Bureau Award in Bangalore ceremony. Maldives also won the Indian Ocean’s Leading Destinations Award and Indian Ocean’s Leading Dive Destination Award in the same ceremony. During this ceremony Maldives Tourism industry won awards in many categories.

Maldives has yet again won another prestigious award, the Daily Telegraph’s Ultratravel Award for Best Holiday Destination Worldwide.

The ULTRAs (Ultimate Luxury Travel Related Awards), celebrating the best in luxury travel across the globe, were announced at a ceremony held at InterContinental London Park Lane Hotel on 9th of May 2007. On behalf of the tourism industry of the Maldives the award was received by High Commissioner of Maldives to UK and Northern Ireland, His Excellency Mr Hassan Sobir.

Ultratravel magazine, published with the Daily Telegraph, was first launched in autumn 2004 and has a circulation of 500,000 readers.

The ULTRA awards were selected based on votes casted by the readers of the UltraTravel magazine over a period of more than 12 months. The ULTRAs consisted, in addition to best holiday destination, the best in airline, airport, tour operator, cruise company, spa, ski resort and hotel.

To win this award Maldives competed with popular destinations such as New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Thailand.

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For further information, please contact:
Vanessa Evans / Natalie Amos
McCluskey International – PR Representative for MTPB in UK
Tel: 0208 237 7979
Email: vanessa@mccluskey.co.uk / natalie@mccluskey.co.uk