CNBC Awaaz Travel Awards 2012

CORPORATE

6th Edition of CNBC Awaaz Travel Awards 2012 recognizes the best in the Indian Tourism Industry

Nov 21, 2012

Mumbai : CNBC AWAAZ in association with Jammu and Kashmir Tourism and 

J&K Bank presented the sixth edition of CNBC AWAAZ Travel Awards’12, one of India’s most accredited honours for the travel and tourism industry today at Srinagar. The awards recognized and felicitated luminaries from the Indian travel and tourism industry, who have excelled, set benchmarks and proved their proficiency on the global tourism platform. The event was presided over by an esteemed panel consisting of Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad, Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Mr. Chiranjeevi Konidala, Ministers of State for Tourism, Mr. Omar Abdullah, Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir and Mr. Nawang Rigzin Jora, Minister for Tourism & Culture, Government of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K).  The annual event honours the best in class, travel destinations, ancillary services of the tourism industry, and is also recognized as a platform which brings into vanguard the emerging trends.

Tourism is the largest service industry in India, with a contribution of 6.23% to the national GDP and 8.78% of the total employment in India. With more than 5 million annual influx of foreign tourists and 562 million domestic travelers, the World Travel and Tourism Council recognizes India as a tourism hotspot for 2009–2018.

The travel and tourism sector is undoubtedly one of the most potent and competitive sectors in India.  With accelerating competition between tourist destinations, tourism promotion boards, and hundreds of allied services to entice consumers, it becomes imperative to institute benchmarks. In addition to rewarding the best in class travel destinations, CNBC Awaaz Travel Awards’12 also recognized ancillary services of the tourism industry like transport, hospitality, tour operators and travel portals among others. Acknowledging the growing need for ecological tourism, CNBC Awaaz Travel Awards’12 also introduced a special category for sustainable tourism.

Executed through an exhaustive consumer online survey with over 10000 respondents across India, these awards identified and felicitated the pre-eminent in the travel industry, discovered India’s travel potential, unveiled decision making criterion and understood the consumer mindset. Powered by an esteemed jury panel consisting of Mr. Amitabh Kant, CEO & MD, Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (DMICDC), Mr. Vikram Madhok, Chairperson, World Travel & Tourism Council India Initiative and Mr. Ajeet Bajaj, ATTA member and 2012 Summit Advisory committee member, these awards put into perspective the trends across leisure, medical, adventure, heritage tourism, that are instrumental in driving the sector.

Commenting on CNBC AWAAZ Travel Awards 2012, Mr. Sanjay Pugalia, Editor-in-Chief, CNBC AWAAZ, said, “The awards is our way of letting the consumer voice their opinion, every year we solicit travelers to choose the most deserving travel and tourism companies. It is completely based on consumer opinion, that we decide who deserves to be recognized. We are happy to have garnered great response from the consumer and want to extend our appreciation for their contribution in developing the travel and tourism industry.”

CNBC AWAAZ conducted an exhaustive consumer response online survey with an objective to felicitate the best in the travel and tourism industry, identify India’s travel potential, unveil various consumer’s decision making criteria’s and gain an understanding of the consumer mindset. The sample size of the research study included 10,000 respondents across the country. The final shortlist of nominees in each category was reached on basis of the previous year’s category winner and being thoroughly vetted and approved by CNBC Awaaz commendations. The Voting process was done using online and SMS as the response medium supported by a month long communications campaign which encourages national participation on various platforms including the Travel Awards website, Facebook page and Twitter handles. The winners in the lifestyle categories were decided by the distinguished jury.

The winners of ‘CNBC AWAAZ Travel Awards 2012’ are stated below: -