Sri Lanka bagged the prestigious British Guild of Travel Writers Tourism Award for the Best International Tourism project in the Wider World for The Pekoe Trail, at the Annual Gala Awards held in London on November 5.
This is the first time Sri Lanka has secured an International Tourism Award at the renowned British Guild. The award was accepted by Tourism Minister Harin Fernando who attended the event as a guest of honour, Sri Lanka Tourism said in a news release.
Receiving the award, Minister Fernando said, “We are thrilled and humbled to receive this accolade for Sri Lanka.
It validates our efforts to revive the tourism industry in our country, after a few challenging years, by innovating and celebrating authentic travel, in a way that resonates with and attracts travellers keen to explore and discover the real Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has high potential for nature-based, wellness tourism and transformative travel, and The Pekoe Trail is spearheading new immersive experiences in this segment.”
The Pekoe Trail has won the award beating four other major projects nominated under the Wider World category. Sri Lanka Tourism has also partnered with the British Guild this year to host the International Tourism Awards segment exposing new tourism branding Sri Lanka -you’ll come back for more to an audience of 300 high-profile media who attended the event.
Sri Lanka Tourism extends gratitude to the founder of the Pekoe trail Miguel Cunat, the European Union and the USAID for funding the project and thanks Petra Shepherd and Jessica Vincent for nominating Sri Lanka for this award and for featuring wonderful stories about the trail, and to all the other numerous travel writers and journalists that have written so many wonderful things about the trail and Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka Tourism was all set to announce this major win at the WTM Opening Ceremony on November 6 at Excel, London, to emphasize the destination’s commitment for sustainable tourism initiatives.
