Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) hosted today the PATA Gold Awards Lunch and Award Presentation 2017 with three of this year’s Gold Awards going to Macao tourism operators. The awards presentation ceremony is one of the highlights of PATA Travel Mart 2017 that closes today in Macao.

In a ceremony held today at The Parisian Macao, a total of 31 Grand and Gold Awards were presented to winners by MGTO Director, Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, along with Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Chairperson, Sarah Mathews, and PATA Chief Executive Officer, Mario Hardy. The occasion was witnessed by around 800 PATA Travel Mart delegates.

The list of this year’s winners includes two Macao tourism operators Sands China Ltd. that received two Gold Awards and Melco Resorts & Entertainment that took away one Gold Award.

One of the Gold Awards Sands China Ltd. won was in the category of Environment - Corporate Environmental Programme for its Sands ECO360 Global Sustainability Program that sets out “green” goals and action plans to help minimise the group’s environmental impact and follow sustainable building development and resort operations. Sands China Ltd. won another Gold Award in Marketing Media - Travel Advertising Broadcast Media for its promotional video clip to promote the opening of The Parisian Macao, featuring French movie star Sophie Marceau alternating between the streets of Paris and the integrated resort.

Melco Resorts & Entertainment won a PATA Gold Award in the category of Marketing – Hospitality for its successful collaboration with the popular Mainland China Hunan TV’s celebrity reality show “Up Idol II” to film an episode in Macao and for the social media promotion and shows developed in tandem, including “Up Idol II x Dancing Water Backstage Adventure”.

This year’s winners were selected among a total of 220 entries by an international panel of experts. Aside from Macao tourism operators, the 2017 Grand and Gold Awards were presented to such organisations as Accor Hotels Asia Pacific, Hotel ICON, Korea Tourism Organization, Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi, Air China and Guam Visitors Bureau. A total of four PATA Grand Awards and twenty-seven Gold Awards were distributed to recognize exceptional achievement in seven broad categories: Marketing Campaign, Environment, Corporate Social Responsibility, Heritage and Culture, Education and Training, Marketing Media and Travel Journalism.

MGTO has been supporting the PATA Gold Awards for twenty-two consecutive years to promote the city’s tourism in tandem with the Association’s goal of fostering responsible development of tourism in the Asia Pacific region.