PATWA Announces its 25th and 2025 Edition of the PATWA International Travel Awards at ITB, Berlin

The PATWA International Travel Awards are given to recognise governments, brands, individuals, ministers, and organisations that have excelled and are involved in the promotionof tourism from different sectors of the travel trade such as aviation, airlines, hotels, travel agencies, tour operators, countries, destinations, provinces, cities, government bodies and other service provider(s) related directly or indirectly to the industry.

PATWA's exclusive "excellence in governance" award category recognises the work done by countries, states, provinces, regions, districts and cities through and by their elected representatives to promote sustainable travel with policies, guidelines, and incentives for their destinations and the hospitality, aviation, and tourism sectors.

The awards are given to governments including, but not limited to, ministers, governors, parliamentarians, and mayors. PATWA is the first organisation to have awards dedicated to excellence in governance on a regional, national and international level.

Yatan Ahluwalia, Secretary General PATWA

Speaking on the announcement of the 25^th edition, Secretary General of PATWA, Yatan Ahluwalia said, "We are proud to be at this important milestone, especially at a time when travel and tourism have bounced back to pre-pandemic levels and has shown tremendous resurgence to grow further, even though part of the world is facing challenges of war and climate change."

He further added, "Keeping up with changing times, there will be a new category of awards for travel technology and service providers introduced at our 2025 edition. This will allow us to recognise the trail blazers from the growing travel tech sector and those that have excelled in providing services to the industry. Both are important contributors to the growth story but are rarely acknowledged for their contributions, and we plan to change that." he concluded.

Pacific Area Travel Writers Association (PATWA) organises the PATWA International Travel Awards every year at ITB Berlin, which is the worlds leading travel trade show.

The 2024 edition had almost 150 attendees at the event including tourism ministers of 10 countries, 8 ambassadors, 4 governors, 2 senators, 33 awardees, over 75 international media members, 50 other guests and 5 eminent speakers, who were all ministers. The forthcoming and 25th edition promises to be even bigger.

Pacific Area Travel Writers Association (PATWA) is a non-profit, non-government, international media organisation. PATWA is an affiliate member of UN Tourism. www.patwainternational.com.